Little Red and Ryan Wolfe
by Bekahbee
Summary: Chapter 66 The simple truth about Ryan. Final Chapter Story continued in RED WOLFE.
1. The Newbie

Disclaimer: Obviously I do not own the rights to CSI: Miami, but I have no problem borrowing their characters for a bit to satisfy a few daydreams.

Side Note: I also borrowed this plotline from someone else who began the story but hasn't updated it in a long time so I took it upon myself to finish the story because it was driving me crazy. Not to say that it's a completely plagiaristic venture, but I did use her general idea. Mucho thanks to her.

Keats Juniper Remington walked down the long corridor to the office belonging to one Horatio Caine, her new boss. He was head of the Crime Lab of the Miami Dade Police Department and he had seemed incredibly intimidating when he had interviewed her only weeks before. Keats was barely twenty and fulfilling an internship for her requirements to graduate and become a full member of the Crime Lab. College was no picnic and she was determined to graduate by the time she could legally ingest alcohol. She was ready to start her 'real' life as soon as possible.

She knocked on the door nervously, wondering if she had underdressed for the occasion. She was wearing blue jeans, black sneakers, and a white Ole Miss t-shirt with red script. Her hair was strawberry blond, rather short, and always falling in her eyes. She wore many rings, bracelets, and green glasses that complimented her bright green eyes. In short, she looked rather unprofessional. _I might as well be wearing pajamas._

"Come in, Ms. Remington." The familiar, fatherly voice answered. She entered his office gingerly, hoping he wouldn't be offended by her attire. Horatio was on his cell phone standing beside his desk when he motioned for her to sit down. She sat down in the armchair across from his desk and waited in angst as he finished his conversation.

"…Okay. Sounds good. I have to take care of a little business, first, but I'll be there in twenty minutes. This comes at a convenient time, I think. Our newbie needs to get her feet wet…" He hung up a second later and faced Keats, a warm smile on his face.

"Let me introduce you to everyone in the Lab and then we can check out our first crime scene. You ready, Keats?" He asked her. Keats grinned, feeling excited and jumpy, like she did as a child when her parents took her to Disneyland. All her anxieties were suddenly forgotten.

"Um…Lt. Caine? Can you call me K.J. or June, or something? Keats is so…"

"I like June. June in exchange for Horatio. Deal?" He replied, heading toward the door. Keats followed right behind him.

"Okay, Horatio."

"Eric Delko, this is June Remington, our new intern. She'll be joining us in the field in a few minutes." Horatio introduced Keats to the handsome Cuban and a slight jolt went through her. Delko's white smile flashed in front of her eyes and for a moment she wished she had worn something sexy. _Don't be stupid, Keats. The workplace is off-limits for romance. _She shook his hand and ignored the tingling sensation that went up her arm.

"Nice to meet you, Remington." Eric gave her the once-over and went back to his paperwork.

"We'll meet you out front in a few, Eric." With that, Horatio led Keats to a few other places where she had the pleasure of meeting Calleigh Duquesne, Alexx Woods, Natalia Boa Vista, Dan Cooper, and a few others. Finally, he led her into another lab where a guy was leaning into his microscope with great interest. He turned around and Keats felt her heart jump into her throat. _This guy is even cuter than Eric!_

"Remington, this is Ryan Wolfe. He'll be joining us at the crime scene as well. Since Ryan here will be your mentor, I'll leave you two to get acquainted while he finishes things up. Wolfe, meet us at the scene when you're done." Horatio left the pair alone and Keats was experiencing mixed emotions. Wolfe had already turned his back to her, barely giving her the time of day and Keats stood behind him expectantly. Finally he jotted down a few things in a file and slammed it shut. He turned to face Keats and smirked.

"Intern, huh? Stay on your toes, uh…what was your name again?" Ryan asked. Keats glared at him and ignored his question.

"Are we ready to go to the crime scene now?" She answered a bit defensively. Ryan nodded and they headed toward his hummer.


	2. Beginner's Luck

"June, take a look at the body and the room around it. I want you to tell me if there's anything we forgot to tag." Horatio motioned toward the corpse of an elderly man that had been strangled to death in his bed. Keats glanced over the bed, then took a peek behind the headboard. _Nothing there. Find something, dammit, or you'll look stupid._ She scoured the floor for a trace of something, anything, that would make them realize she was worth their time. Ryan was taking photographs of the body as she examined the area surrounding the body. Eric and Horatio were behind her, scrutinizing every move she made. Suddenly she spotted something obscure and she felt her stomach jump with happiness.

"May I use the tweezers, please?" She inquired of the men. They looked at each other with interest. Horatio and Eric had finished checking everything, or so they thought. Eric handed her the tweezers and she took them with a determined countenance marked on her baby-doll face. She gently picked up a tiny fraction of red plastic. Like someone broke their press-on nails. Ryan gazed at her with mild fury.

"Beginner's luck, H. If you didn't have to worry about her then you guys would have found it." He said looking straight into Keats' eyes.

"Jonathan Longfellow. Survived by his wife, Maria. Other than that the only other person to walk through those doors was their live-in nurse, Janelle Watkins. According to the evidence we have so far, what is your theory and what is the one thing you would check at the lab before anything else?" Horatio ignored Ryan's comment as he gave Keats his most intense stare.

"It's too early for a theory. I would need to check the figures for his life insurance policy to solidify any motive. At the lab I would look into the red piece of acrylic and see if traces of it appear on the body after Alexx checks it out. There might have been a struggle before the strangling." Keats answered him with great confidence, even though she felt as if she might faint under the pressure. Horatio nodded, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. He looked at Eric and they both nodded.

"Wrap things up here, Eric. I have another scene to look into with Calleigh." He gave a slight wave toward Keats and she felt herself blush with pride. _Maybe they'll accept me sooner than I thought. _

"Not bad, Lady Remington. I better watch my back from now on." Delko teased. Keats gave a grin that Eric found incredibly endearing.

"Wolfe is right. It's just beginner's luck. I doubt I'll have any success with the next one." Keats replied modestly. Eric cast a frown in Ryan's direction. Ryan was busily packing up the equipment and did not notice the cold stare permeating from Eric.

"Wolfe, take Lady Remington back to the Lab and let her run some tests. And if she wants to this time around, let her interview the widow and the nurse." Eric said as Ryan was making a hasty retreat out of the house. Ryan stopped in his tracks and sighed.

"C'mon, Keats. Let's get move out." He said with his back facing her. Keats paled.

"How did you- I mean, why did you call me that?" She asked indignantly. He turned around and gave her a wicked smile.

"I have your file, dummy. I'm your mentor…unless you'd rather me call you Juniper." He said with charm. _I thought he hated me. Then why is he flirting?_

"I…um…Keats is fine. I guess." She replied. They headed back toward the Lab for lunch.

"Look at this…it's a cheap piece of acrylic. The exact material that press-on nails are made of. That's one suspicion confirmed. May I call in the two suspects for interviews?" Keats asked, taking her eyes away from the microscope. Ryan Wolfe stood behind her, taking a peek at the evidence himself.

"You don't have to keep saying 'May I', Keats. Just tell me what you want." The echo of his words made her suddenly aware of the closeness between them. His face was inches away from her own and her breath became caught in her lungs. _Tell me what you want._

"The interviews…that's all." She said, getting off her chair and adjusting her glasses.

"You want me to come with you? You don't really have a choice, but I thought I'd ask anyway." He told her. She shrugged as nonchalantly as she could manage.

"Mrs. Longfellow, we'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's all right." Ryan asked the stout woman sitting across from him in the interrogation room. He looked at Keats and gave a nod. Keats examined Maria's nails rather quickly, noting that they were short and finely manicured.

"Longfellow? Interesting name…" She began, her instincts taking over with fervor. Maria Longfellow looked down and her eyes danced all over the floor.

"Yes, well. My husband was an interesting man." She said, looking up at Keats.

"What was the occupation of your husband, Mrs. Longfellow?" Keats continued, knowing exactly what information she wanted. Ryan watched, wondering what she was thinking.

"He was an author. He wrote mysteries." She said after a time.

"By any chance do you know his real name?" Keats blurted out. Ryan's eyes widened but he said nothing. This intern was proving to be a real pistol.

"What do you mean? Jonathan Longfellow was his name." Maria said with great effort. Keats shook her head.

"Maria…I have it on good authority that your husband was leading a double life. You only have to confirm it." Keats said, crossing her arms over her chest. Ryan sat spellbound as she worked her magic on the suspect.

"You can't prove that!" Maria shouted. Keats slapped her hands on the table and stared straight into Maria's frightened face.

"John Laherty. Look in my eyes and tell me I'm wrong. Tell me his name wasn't John Laherty." Keats leaned closer. Maria began breathing faster, nodding her head quickly.

"Yes. I haven't known for very long."

"Is that why you killed him?" Keats whispered. Maria turned away.

"I'm not saying another word without a lawyer. I will not be badgered. My alibi is airtight, so you just try to lock me up, bitch." Maria stood and walked out, slamming the door behind her. Ryan gazed at Keats with a bewildered expression.

"How did you know his name was John Laherty?" He asked. Keats gave him a cute smile.

"I did a little homework while everyone else was at lunch. I had a pretty accurate hunch, I suppose. I think I know exactly what happened, the only thing I have to do now is prove it." She said with much satisfaction. Ryan cleared his throat.

"Be careful next time. Accusing suspects without evidence to back it up is suicide. And don't think I'll let you do all the legwork without me anymore."

"Agreed. But next time, Wolfe, I expect you to be impressed." With that, Keats waltzed out of the interrogation room and down to the morgue. Ryan stared at the closing door with a grin.


	3. Giselle's Testimony

"Alexx, is there anything you can tell me about the body?" She asked breathlessly. Alexx stared down at the man that was John Laherty and gently turned his head to one side.

"Yeah, honey. I was just examining the strange pieces of plastic embedded in his left cheek. Almost as if somebody slapped him a good one with-"

"Press-on nails?" She supplied. Alexx chuckled softly and picked out a piece with her tweezers, holding it up so Keats could see it.

"So what's going on, Alexx?" Ryan appeared behind Keats' shoulder.

"Plenty. Death by asphyxiation and several lacerations on the cheek that suggest a fight prior to the murder. The marks on his neck match the sash of the robe found at the crime scene. I also found traces of Trileptal in his system. It's used for control of seizures, and in some cases even anger management."

"Anger management, huh?" Keats said, the wheels of thought turning quickly in her head. Ryan memorized the expression on her face, the look of knowing exactly what to do and how to do it.

"We haven't been able to get a hold of Janelle Watkins. The agency she was at said she had been missing for a few days. That's a possible sign of guilt." Ryan said.

"Or murder…I think I want to take another look at the crime scene. And someone should look into John Laherty's other life. Find out his family, career, that kind of thing." She said, a gleam in her eye. Ryan glanced at Alexx and she winked at him. Keats took off running to ask Dan Cooper to investigate John Laherty's records. Ryan stayed behind with Alexx and the remains of John Laherty.

"What's the matter with you, Ryan? Don't tell me that sweet girl is making you uncomfortable." She began to replace the body back in the freezer.

"Nah. She's just got something I want. She has that gut instinct that's always right. I'd do anything to have that gift." He said, rubbing his hand behind his neck.

"Ryan, I bet she's the one envious of you. She told me a little while ago that you made her nervous. She thinks you're incredibly smart." Alexx gave him a pat on the shoulder and he nodded, grateful for her indiscretion.

Ryan Wolfe grabbed his kit, watching Keats run into the house like a gleeful child. He shook his head and smiled for some reason. The intern was really getting to him. He set up his equipment in the living room and half-heartedly examined every inch of the same room he'd just seen only hours before. He heard a shuffling of feet and he looked up to find Keats as white as a ghost.

"I think I've found Janelle and I think I have a damn good theory." She said with her eyes as wide as saucers. Ryan took her lead and she showed him around to the other side of the house where the flowerbed was located in back. She leaned down and separated a few loose flowers, holding up a stiff, white arm with her gloved fingers.

"That would explain the dirt trail from the back door to the bedroom." Ryan said, feeling a strange sense of pride for Keats. He whipped out his cell-phone and called in for help.

"Keats, Horatio wants to take you back to the Lab." Ryan said after he hung up. Keats frowned and sighed, wishing she could be more than just an intern. The case was busting wide open in her head, but no one would believe her until she could gather all the evidence. With as much power as she had as an intern, the odds of that were not very high.

Horatio drove her back in his hummer, giving her a few tiny smiles that she supposed were his way of expressing a compliment.

"What do you think happened, June? I want to hear it from you before I can officially induct you into my Crime Lab." He said, his sunglasses pulled down to where she could see his eyes. Keats couldn't believe what she'd heard.

"What? But I haven't graduated yet…" Keats began talking some reason into herself before she was carried away by the possibilities.

"Naturally you'll only be working half-time until you've acquired your degree. But I have the feeling that you'll be a great asset to the team. So here's the catch: you have to prove to me that I'm right about you." He said as they pulled into the parking area of the Miami Dade Police Department. He gave her a challenging look and exited the vehicle.

"Give me something, Dan. I'm on a mission." Keats exclaimed, leaning into the computer. Dan Cooper gave her a boyish grin and pointed to an online file of a woman named Giselle Laherty.

"They were married at least five years before he even met Maria. They both worked at a local newspaper until he retired. He retired around the same time that he married Maria."

"Well, having to keep up two identities is like a job in itself, I suppose." Keats said, thinking heavily of what the presence of Giselle could do to her case. _My case? That's a Freudian slip if I've ever heard one._

"They brought Giselle in for questioning ten minutes ago. I suggest you get up there and find out what you need to know." Dan said, gently pushing her out of the room.

When Keats made it to the interrogation room, a few detectives were patting themselves on the back and shaking hands.

"May I question the witness?" Keats asked, flushing from embarrassment. It was obvious that they had wrapped everything up and here she was seemingly trying to nail their leftovers. The detectives laughed in her face.

"What for? We have our murderer." The older one said, putting an apologetic hand on her shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Keats cried, wondering how they could close it up so quickly.

"The scratches on his face came from Laherty's first wife. Plus we found her fingerprints on Janelle, and a few witnesses claiming that Maria was with her mother the night of the murder." The younger one told her with a childish, 'I got there first' sort of tone. Keats shook her head vehemently.

"You've got to be kidding me. Maria is the murderer." Keats said, talking to no one in particular. She sank to her knees in the darkened hallway, knowing that this meant her opportunity to work with Horatio had gone. _How do I prove that Maria was the true murderer?_

"Listen, Mrs. Laherty, I know what it looks like. And I'm going to try my best to change things. I believe you're innocent and I intend to prove it. The best way for you to help me exonerate you would be to tell me the exact truth, leaving out absolutely no details whatsoever." Keats told a frightened Mrs. Laherty. Mrs. Laherty brushed away a few tears and nodded helpfully.

"Earlier in the day I ran into Janelle at the store. I hugged her and we chatted a bit and I told her that I had gotten some preserves from the Farmer's market in Tampa. I knew that she loved them to death so I offered to bring some over to her. You see, I always assumed that Janelle was our nurse on weekends when John was home and she worked for another family during the week when John was supposedly doing research for his 'great American novel.' Pretty foolish, huh? I had no idea that she was with John at his other wife's place.

Anyway, she thought about it for a bit and told me that I could stop by later and she gave me the address. I went by the house and peeked in through the front windows but I didn't see anyone, so I went out back. I knocked on the door for good bit until finally someone came to answer. But it wasn't Janelle. It was John. He swung the door open and we just stared at each other in shock for a minute. I couldn't believe it, at first. I thought he was having an affair with Janelle and I felt so betrayed. I started yelling at him and I slapped his cheek pretty hard. He slammed the door in my face but I kept screaming at him.

I said, 'John, how dare you cheat on me! Why would you do this to your own wife?' And I heard another woman's voice inside the house that definitely wasn't Janelle's. She started crying and yelling herself. She asked Janelle if it was true and I heard nothing for awhile. Then I heard the crying getting louder and I saw John go into the kitchen. I heard a few screams and I saw Janelle lying on the floor through the back window. I was so scared that I ran. I ran until my lungs felt like they would burst." With that, Giselle began sobbing as a few deputies led her off into their custody. She looked at Keats with her tear-soaked face one last time.

"Please don't let me take the heat for this." She pleaded. Her heart went out to this woman whose husband had cheated on her and inadvertently caused her to take the fall for his death.

"Don't worry, Giselle. I'll make sure you don't." Keats said, unsure that she would have any power over her fate. Keats began thinking about her original theory and a few scenarios that fit. She went back to the morgue a few times and re-examined every piece of evidence with a thorough ferocity. And then, an idea came to her.


	4. A Degrading Disguise

"Ryan, I need to talk to the witnesses that claimed they saw Maria at her mother's house." Keats said as she burst into the lab. Ryan shook his head.

"They've arrested Giselle. That's it. Game over. I don't like it any more than you do but we have no choice." He said, giving her a grim smile.

"So you do believe me, Ryan?" She asked, holding her breath. Ryan cocked his head to one side and shrugged.

"I meant I don't like the fact that they closed the case prematurely. As to whether or not I believe you, I don't know. The case wasn't quite over. Cheer up, H will probably give you another chance to prove yourself." He said with a genuine smile. But to Keats it had become more than a chance to show her worth. It was about justice and seeing the right person pay for the crime.

"Give me a name. If I'm wrong about this, you can transfer me to another P.D. But give me a name, please." Keats asked, looking grave and serious. Ryan sighed.

"One name. Cedric Waters. Good luck." He watched her run out of the lab and he secretly hoped that she would prove him wrong.

After bribing Dan Cooper with a date the next weekend, Keats was given the address of Cedric Waters. She clocked out as though she were going home but instead of driving to her apartment, she headed toward Cedric's house on the beach. The Miami traffic delayed her for almost an hour, but she finally reached the stretch of beach that he lived on. There was some party going on after hours and there were hundreds of drunk people gathered around bonfires and dancing with sprinklers. Keats made her way to the beach house and climbed up the sandy set of steps. The door was made of clear glass and Keats glanced through it to make sure someone was home.

Ryan walked into Dan Cooper's private reverie and casually glanced around before inquiring about the latest case. But somehow conversation turned to Keats.

"Cooper, did Keats come in looking for an address?" He asked, hoping that Dan would say 'no'. Keats did not need to take the law upon herself.

"Skeeter? Yeah, she was in here looking for one about an hour ago. But I wouldn't give it to her." Dan said, typing in a few things for Calleigh and Eric's case.

"You didn't? Thank God." Ryan breathed, rubbing his forehead. Dan glanced at him strangely.

"Well…I did eventually. She said she'd go out on a date with me if I gave it to her. So I did…She's cute, man. Why am I such a sucker for a pretty face?" Dan said. Ryan mumbled an obscenity under his breath.

"Cooper, you idiot! Damn…give me the address you gave her." He said. Dan printed out the address and Ryan grabbed it, running as fast as he could to catch up with the intern.

Keats rang the doorbell and waited patiently. A very young, finely toned black man wearing bikini underwear slid the door open with a smile.

"Are you the new girl? Maria didn't tell me you'd be here so soon." He said with a smooth tone. Keats wondered what he meant.

"You might get your first job tonight, if you're lucky." He said, welcoming her into his house. He began pulling at her clothes with disdain.

"But definitely not in this outfit. This isn't sexy, sugar. But luckily my girlfriend left her clothes behind last night and you're just about her size." He pulled off her shirt and she reached for her guest pass to the Lab and dropped it on the floor, kicking it under his couch before he could see it. He dressed her in a pair of very tight black pants and a red halter that tied in the front for 'easy access', as Cedric put it. If he was even Cedric Waters to begin with.

"Cedric?" She asked, just to be sure. He looked up and waited for a question.

"What, baby?" He asked. Keats thought quickly about what to ask that would give her the info she needed without arousing suspicion.

"I heard Maria's mother was sick. Is there any way I can send her some flowers or something?" Keats asked rather lamely. It was the best she could come up with.

"You sweet thing. No, honey, that old bat is dead. Maria's 'mother' is where she works. You know, where she sets up appointments and goes over prospective clients." Cedric said with a warm smile. Keats returned his smile, the pieces of her case suddenly fitting together.

Just then, a knock at the door brought her back to reality. She spotted Ryan outside the door and racked her brain in order to explain his presence without jeopardizing her cover.

"I wonder who that is, baby. Hold on." He wrapped a towel around his lower body and slid the door open. Keats was right behind him, wringing her hands.

"Can I help you?" Cedric asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"He looks familiar, Cedric. I think he's a client." Keats said in a rush. She gave Ryan a knowing look to play along.

"Yeah. Could you hook me up?" Ryan didn't know whether he was asking for drugs or what, but it seemed a safe response. Cedric smiled.

"What are you looking for, man?" He asked. Keats pointed to herself repeatedly.

"She'll do fine." Ryan said, making a slight nod toward Keats. Cedric pushed her to him and looked at his watch.

"You got an hour till she gotta be back. There's a man who always comes at one in the morning asking for a redhead." With that, Cedric slapped Keats on the behind and winked at her. Ryan and Keats left the beach house, walking into the heart of the festivities. After a bit, Ryan grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"Don't ever pull this stunt on me again, Keats. I was really worried." He fixed her with an angry stare. Keats only smiled, showing her pretty teeth.

"Stay mad, but tell me when you want to hear what I know." She said, slipping out of his grip. Ryan's gaze softened, turning into an expression of utter curiosity.

"Maria is apparently a semi-successful madam. The so called 'mother' that she was with turned out to be her headquarters for conducting business. The alibi was a fake one, set-up by her accomplice, Cedric Waters. I'm guessing she framed Giselle in order to get Laherty out of the way and to acquire his wealth, which in turn would help out her business tremendously. I'm guessing she's having a hard time, from the way Cedric talked about it." Keats finished and glanced at Ryan for his response. Ryan nodded, his eyes bright.

"Keats…good work." He gave her a hearty pat on the back and smiled.

"By the way, I'm impressed." He said as he flipped his cell phone open. He gave Horatio the heads up and was promised to have backup within the next hour. When he was finished with his call, he noticed that Keats didn't appear to be happy.


	5. A True CSI

"What's the matter, Keats?" He asked. Keats pointed to Cedric's beach house.

"I left my Lab Pass back there. I have to go get it." She said with a grimace. Ryan gave a short laugh.

"You'll get another one, I promise." He replied, putting a friendly arm around her shoulder. Keats shook her head, her hair flying around.

"No, Ryan." She broke away and ran back to Cedric's house, ignoring Ryan's shouts.

"I swear she'll be here in a minute, Mr. Delacrosse. I didn't know she worked for the police, honest." Cedric cried, struggling for breath. Delacrosse released him and spotted the young redhead outside his door. He opened it, dragging her inside kicking and screaming. He pulled the shades and locked the door behind him. He threw Keats to the ground and pulled a gun out of his holster. Cedric stayed huddled in the corner. A moment later, a strong voice penetrated through the silent room.

"Come out with your hands up. This is Miami Dade P.D." Ryan shouted, his gun ready. Keats let out a sigh of relief and Delacrosse glared at her.

"Is there a back way out of here?" He asked Cedric. Cedric pointed to the wide window in the bedroom. Delacrosse rolled his eyes.

"No door, you useless pimp?" He growled, returning his gun to its rightful place. He pinned Keats' wrists behind her and pulled her to the bedroom. Keats bit him on the arm and he shouted in pain. He tightened his fist and hit Keats across the face, knocking her unconsciousness. Ryan crashed through the glass door, appearing in the bedroom doorway with his gun pointed directly at Delacrosse.

"Who the hell are you?" Ryan asked, bewildered. Delacrosse grabbed his gun and shoved it into Keats' temple with fury.

"What does it matter, now? The question is, are you gonna let me walk or will I have to shoot her?" He cocked the gun with a malicious grin. Ryan summed up in his head how long it would take for backup to arrive and decided it had been long enough.

"Go ahead." He said, slowly pointing the gun upwards. Delacrosse nodded in satisfaction. He lifted Keats into his lap as he sat on the windowsill, preparing to jump out. He glanced around for a landing place, dismayed to find the window ten feet from the sand.

"Leave her." Ryan said, aiming the gun at Delacrosse. Delacrosse placed her on the ground and made a flying leap out the window. He landed harder than he imagined he would and tried to get rid of all the sand in his mouth. He started to run but was stopped short by a team of cops and their weapons.

"Miami Dade Police Department. You're under arrest, Mr. Delacrosse." Horatio gave a slight smile by the light of the Miami moon.

"You realize that you broke a few basic rules in an attempt to discover the truth, June. You should never go in the field by yourself. Not only are you an unarmed intern, but you're not trained to take on an assignment all alone. Not even Calleigh or Eric go by themselves if it can be avoided. It's not a wise thing for anyone to do, June. That having been said, you delved into finding out the truth because of a gut feeling despite the evidence mounted against you. This pursuit of justice is admirable and refreshing. You have a natural talent that I want showcased on my team. Are you willing to come work with us?" Horatio asked. Calleigh and Eric stood beside him with warm, welcoming smiles. Keats nodded, almost in tears.

"But what about-" She began, her worries surfacing. Horatio gave a nod.

"I took care of it. I pulled a few strings with the Law Enforcement offices and they've agreed to qualify you as an agent." He said with quiet pride as he put on his sunglasses. Keats gave a wide smile, wrapping her arms around Horatio in a grateful hug.

"Take it easy, June. No working in the field until your wounds heal." Horatio said, walking in the opposite direction. Keats hugged both Eric and Calleigh, making them laugh. They had seen many people come and go, but Keats wasn't just anyone.

"Congratulations, Keats. You're a CSI. How does it feel?" Ryan asked as Keats came into the Lab to thank him. Keats shrugged.

"Great, naturally. But I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks, Wolfe." She said as she was leaving to go home. Horatio had insisted she get the rest of the day off.

"Wait…Keats. I get off in twenty. Do you wanna hang around and then we can go out to lunch afterwards?" Ryan asked.

"Sure. I could go for pizza." Keats answered as she left. She headed downstairs to talk to Dan Cooper, meaning to thank him for his willingness to give her Cedric's address.

John Laherty murdered Janelle by accident, and Maria in turn, strangled John to death making it look like Giselle had committed the murder. Maria had hidden Janelle in the flowerbed and took off. Cedric had admitted as much. Delacrosse was her partner in the escort service they had created, and the one who had planted the idea of murder in her selfish head. Giselle was set free and Keats was overjoyed beyond belief.

"Thank you, Cooper." Keats said as she enveloped him in a tight hug that he was bound to misinterpret. Dan Cooper grinned at her, returning the embrace.

"Anytime, Skeeter. Any thoughts on where we should go on Friday?" He asked when he finally pulled away. Keats smiled.

"Let's go see a movie or something. Or we can check out some clubs!" Keats exclaimed.

"Sure. Whatever you want, Skeeter." He gave her a warm look and returned to his processing.

Keats tore into a slice of pepperoni with abandon. Ryan watched her with a wry smirk. Her cheekbone was a nice shade of purple, and her temple had needed stitches where Delacrosse slashed her with the barrel of his gun. But other than that she was none the worse for wear.

"Hungry?" Ryan remarked. Keats ignored him with a feisty smile.

"Hungry like the wolf, I suppose." Keats shot back with a laugh. Ryan gave a chuckle and ran his thumb down his jaw-line.

"What's with calling me Wolfe? You've been calling me Wolfe ever since I saved your sorry ass the other day."

"Fine. Ryan, then. Happy?" Keats ripped into another slice, making sighs of utter satisfaction. Ryan raised an eyebrow provocatively.

"You shouldn't make those sounds without me." He said. Keats swallowed hard and looked at Ryan. _It's not nice to tease girls like me, Ryan. Especially when I find myself thinking about you a lot._

"Yeah, I'll bet." Keats said sarcastically. She shoveled the last bit of pizza in her mouth and sighed. Ryan glanced at her as if she had offended him.

"What's going on with you and Dan Cooper?" He mentioned in a hurt voice.

"He's a good friend. He's the only one who believed me when I said that Maria was the murderer." Keats answered, taking a drink through her straw. Ryan glared at her.

"I never said I didn't believe you. Maybe lunch was a mistake." He said as he stood up and walked out of the restaurant. _Ryan, don't do this to me. _


	6. Strangled

Keats unlocked her apartment door and closed it behind her with a frustrated slam. Ryan was acting childish. _He's so frustrating…he pisses me off so bad, I can't even stand him! I'll get even with Ryan Wolfe if it takes me my whole life._

She glanced at the badge in her hands and the gun she had received upon being ushered into the Miami Dade Police Department. She wanted to go out and fight some crime, but she was stuck doing lab reports the rest of the week. She grinned at her success, and despite losing her mentor as a friend, she was happy that things were finally going right for a change. Suddenly the lights went out and Keats wondered in the darkness if she had paid the utilities on time. _Of course I did_

A hand shot out in the darkness and landed on her jaw with a swift blow. Keats took cover on the ground with her weapon and stared up into the void. She could barely see her hand in front of her face much less the figure looming above her. A beam of light shone in her face and Keats squinted uneasily.

"You stood me up, Little Red." A gruff voice spoke in her ear. Keats had no idea what he was talking about. A pair of hands gripped her neck with startling strength and began to squeeze the very life out of her. Keats was careful not to struggle and kept her gun hidden.

She cocked it and shot the stranger in the side, trying to breathe under his immense weight. She rolled out from under him and retreated to her bedroom. She locked the doors and grabbed her phone from the nightstand only to discover the land line had been cut. She groaned in exasperation and realized with extreme dismay that her cell phone was in the other room with the stranger. She took a deep breath and walked out, finding no trace whatsoever of the strange man. Not even a drop of blood.

Keats looked in her mirror the next morning wondering how she would hide the ghastly marks on her neck. She figured a scarf would be too lame, and a turtleneck was much too warm for Miami. Instead she opted to wear a thin dress shirt with the collar upturned. It wasn't much better than anything else, but it was the only thing she could do on such short notice.

"Hey, Dracula…what's with the collar?" Eric asked as she was getting coffee out of the machines. Keats cringed on the inside but decided to play it off as nothing.

"Uh, just a lame college fad, I guess." Keats said, taking a gulp of terribly hot coffee. She spit it out at once and was immediately sorry she'd ever decided to buy any. Eric laughed and found a custodian to clean up the mess. Keats ducked until she found herself in the ballistics lab with Calleigh and luckily, without Ryan.

"Anything new today?" Keats asked. Calleigh grinned and showed Keats how to test hair follicles for DNA. Keats was transfixed on every step of the process that she had almost forgotten about the bruises on her neck.

"Junie, my God. What happened?" Calleigh asked with deep concern. Keats feigned ignorance and fluffed her collar back up to hide the marks.

"Uh, I fell in the shower." She said, trying to get back on the subject of DNA. Calleigh wasn't about to let her off that easy.

"Junie…" She said with an edge. Calleigh crossed her arms over her chest.

"Seriously. I fell in the shower and I'm kinda embarrassed about the marks. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone." Keats said in a very confident manner. Calleigh sighed, knowing only too well that Keats was lying. She hadn't known her long but she could tell somehow that she was keeping something a secret.

"Delko, I noticed some strange bruises and a bit of swelling on Junie's neck. Did she tell you anything about it?" Calleigh said with a drawl. Eric shook his head.

"Her collar was up, but I didn't think much about it." Eric turned to look at Calleigh.

"We need to get her checked out. Do you think Ryan knows anything?" She asked.

"If anyone knows, it'll be him." Eric said as he took Calleigh's cue and went off to find Ryan.

"Wolfe, got a minute?" Delko knocked on the door to the locker room. Ryan stuffed his things in his locker and rolled his eyes. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about Keats for even a minute.

"What's on your mind, Delko?" Ryan asked, sitting down on the wooden bench in between the row of lockers.

"Calleigh noticed some contusions on Remington's neck and wondered if you knew anything about it."

Within the next twenty minutes the entire lab had heard about Keats. Keats in the meantime was working with Horatio on some paperwork that would solidify her position in the Miami Dade P.D. Ryan stormed into his office and motioned for Keats to follow him into the hallway.

"H, I need to ask Keats about something. It won't take long." He said, grabbing her arm tightly. He placed her against the wall and turned her collar down, placing his warm fingers on her neck with a surprising gentleness.

"I slipped in the shower. I swear." Keats said, looking into Ryan's eyes.

"Whatever." He said, dismissing her as he went on his way. _Sometimes, Ryan, you can be such a bastard._ Keats went home later that day without having said a word to anyone else save for Horatio

_I don't know why I haven't told anyone about the guy who attacked me. I guess it was because I didn't want any attention. But somehow I ended up getting it anyway._

Keats locked her doors and windows and sat in the middle of her well-lit living room. She crawled under the covers on her couch and wished that she hadn't caused such drama. She heard her cell phone ring and she retrieved it from her pocket.

"Hello, Remington speaking…" Keats answered. The voice on the other end sounded frighteningly familiar.


	7. Butterfly Kisses

"Ah, a name to match with the baby-doll face. Good evening, sugar. You didn't forget about lil' ole me, now did you?" The man from the other night breathed huskily into the phone. Keats shuddered and wished she had told someone- anyone about the strange visits from Maria's client.

"What do you want?" Keats asked bravely into the receiver.

"I was promised a redhead. Should I come over now?" He asked politely. Keats ended the call and immediately dialed Ryan's number on impulse. When she heard it ringing, she hung up angrily, reminding herself that he was the enemy. Her phone rang as soon as she hung up and she answered after much hesitation.

"Leave me alone!" Keats cried.

"Keats? What's going on with you?" Ryan asked with a mixture of concern and weariness.

"Can you come over?" Keats asked without thinking. She bit her lip in frustration.

"Why?" Ryan seemed surprised that she had the nerve to ask.

"Uh…never mind…" She recovered, not wanting to explain. Ryan sighed, apparently annoyed.

"How do I get to your place?" He said.

She peeped through the keyhole to make sure it was Ryan before she opened the door.

"Normally I don't make house calls, Keats." He quipped as she closed and bolted the door behind him. Her cell phone rang and she gave Ryan a nervous glance.

"Put it on speaker." He instructed. She flipped it open and pressed the speakerphone button.

"Why did you ignore my calls, baby doll? I'll get what I want eventually." The man laughed hoarsely.

"Tell him to come over." Ryan mouthed to Keats. Keats nodded.

"Well then why don't you come over now?" Keats offered.

"How do you know I haven't been here the whole time?" He gave another laugh, more chilling than the previous one. Ryan whipped out his gun and stood in front of Keats, surveying the area.

"Tell your boyfriend not to let you out of his sight. The second he leaves you alone, I'm coming for you." The voice gave one last laugh, the very sound of it sending chills down their spines. He hung up and Keats sat down on her sofa, feeling mortified. Ryan put his weapon back in his belt and sat down beside her. He seemed incredibly irate, too irate to even speak. His elbows rested on his knees and he finally glanced at Keats.

"Why didn't you tell me about that guy this morning? He was the one that tried to strangle you, right? Do you have any idea what kind of danger you're in?" He stopped, breathing heavily as though he was suppressing the urge to shout. His hands gripped her shoulders but instead of shaking her, he held her close to him.

"Ryan, I'm fine. I didn't want to worry anybody." Keats explained.

"I was worried anyway not knowing what was wrong." He mumbled into her hair. _Please don't confuse me, Ryan._

"So how's Valera?" Keats asked, shrugging out of his embrace. She stood and began to look out her window.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked. Keats wished she'd kept her big mouth shut.

"Jealous much?" He said at length when she had remained silent. Keats balled her hands into tight fists and tried to pound his hard chest. He gave a half-smile and held onto her wrists. He pulled her into his arms and gave her a fairly quick kiss in an effort to calm her. Instead she squealed in anger.

"You kissed me, you jerk! And I hate myself because I really liked it." She finished with vexation. Ryan cupped her face in his hands.

"Forget what you've heard at the Lab, dummy." He said as he planted a long, slow kiss on her partially open lips.

"Please don't seduce me. I don't think I could say no." Keats whispered into his cheek. Ryan looked into her eyes and gave a slight laugh.

"So you don't have a thing for Cooper…nice to know. For awhile there I thought I had some competition." Ryan kissed her again, hungry for something Keats was afraid to name. Keats broke away from him.

"If you keep kissing me like that something might happen." She warned.

"I agree. But first things first…do you still plan to go out with Cooper?"

"Sure. As a friend. But even if I did go out on a date with him it shouldn't matter to you." She replied. Ryan went straight to her neck and began teasing her with kisses.

"Stop, Ryan." Keats moaned breathlessly. Ryan moved to her collarbone, pulling back her shirt and leaving more butterfly kisses.

"Tell me you won't see Cooper." Ryan said into her shoulder. Keats gave a tiny laugh.

"Jealous, much?" She asked him. Ryan's lips tightened.

"I'm taking the couch, so get some sleep." He said grimly, giving her one last kiss. His tongue grazed her bottom lip, and she felt dizzy as she stood to go to her bedroom. She threw a pillow and cover at Ryan and went into her room, collapsing on her bed.

But no sooner had she relaxed when a gloved hand clamped over her mouth. Keats struggled and tried to make loud enough sounds to alert Ryan. When a stabbing pain assaulted her hip and her senses grew dull, she knew that she had been injected with a tranquilizer.


	8. The Renegade Dog

The man lifted her limp body, placing her gently on her back. She saw him smile through a set of glassy eyes. Indeed, she was coherent enough to know what was going on around her, but she couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. He scraped his chin with a greasy hand and waited until she had become completely immobile.

"You've got enough of a sedative in your system to knock you flat on your ass, but not enough to where you won't feel pain if I decide to inflict any. You'll also understand every single word I say, so you better listen if you value your life…"

Keats stared at the man's shirt. It was filthy, but she could make out two initials on his breast: D.H.

Keats tried to memorize as much as she could of the man's appearance in order to identify him in a lineup. _If only I should be so lucky._

"It seems you've sent my colleagues up the river in a leaky boat. Now it's your job to patch up all the holes. D'you understand what I'm telling you, Little Red? I want you to reverse the charges against them. If you don't…" To this, the man gave a low laugh from deep in his throat.

He pulled a knife from his leather belt and grabbed a lifeless arm. He propped it on his knee and lightly scraped over certain places, murmuring as he poked at her veins. He looked up for the briefest of seconds and she felt as though her arm was going to split in two. He had cut her with swift precision. The work of a skilled assassin.

Keats could do nothing but gasp as she felt the warm liquid erupt from her trembling arm. Salty tears rolled down her cheeks and she glowered at him with all her strength. The man used Keats' cheek to wipe the blood off his knife. She nearly retched from the bland, coppery smell of her own blood.

He appeared satisfied and he gave her a final nod of approval. He lifted the window in her bedroom and hiked a leg over one side.

"Don't worry, Red. The stuff is gonna wear off in a little bit. Just long enough for me to make my escape. Didn't I tell you if he left you alone that I was gonna get ya? Pass that on to your boyfriend." He waved and disappeared from her sight.

Keats groaned softly, more pained by the fact that she had to release Maria and Delacrosse in order to save her life than her actual wound. _There's no question. I can't do it. He may kill me, but I can't let them get away with their crimes. Who is he, anyway? He mentioned that he was their colleague, but somehow nobody had revealed his existence in relation to the prostitution ring. There's more to this case than I thought._

Very soon her limbs began to gain their strength back and as soon as she found her voice, she let out a horrible cry of pain. She sat up rapidly, clutching her left arm to her chest. Ryan kicked down the door to her bedroom, coming to rest on his knees by her side.

"Where did he go?" Ryan spotted an old t-shirt on the floor and wrapped it around her arm to stop the blood.

"The window…" She gasped. Ryan closed and locked the window, returning to Keats' side.

Ryan stood by angrily as the emergency room technician put several stitches in Keats' arm. She was lost in thought and tried to come up with the rest of D.H.'s name. The name tag might have had a second H, she remembered after much deliberation. She had been so cloudy-headed, unfortunately, that anything she might have remembered was bound to be inaccurate.

"He said 'colleague,' right? Why didn't anyone tell us?" Ryan leaned his hand against the wall, flexing it out of sheer rage. Keats gave a sardonic smile.

"The dogcatcher knows that some dogs are on the loose. What he doesn't know is how many. If he catches half and he thinks he's got all of them, then he isn't expecting the renegade dog that eventually frees his friends when the dogcatcher isn't looking. What we have here is a renegade dog." Keats said, wincing as she glanced down at her terrible scar.

"Corny analogy, but nonetheless a true one. If we could set a trap for the renegade dog by letting him think we were releasing his friends…"

"You know, Ryan, I think there's hope for you after all."

Back in the Lab at Miami Dade, Keats and Ryan had filled everyone in about what had happened the previous night. The team's task now was to go back and question every witness again, trying to gain any insight on the strange man. Keats, however, was haunted by a name at the very edge of her lips that remained just out of reach.

She grabbed her cell-phone in a frenzied manner, chastising herself for not thinking of it before. She traced the number of the calls that the man had made to her and delivered it to Dan Cooper, hoping it would lead somewhere.

"I've got good news and bad news, Skeeter. Bad news is that the calls were made from a payphone. Good news is that I pinpointed the location of the payphone. It's suspiciously close to the house that Maria claimed belonged to her mother." Cooper handed her a printout of his findings and she squealed with delight, hugging his neck with cheerful abandon. She kissed his cheek and went off running to inform Ryan of the recent development.

Regrettably, Ryan had been standing in the doorway for quite sometime and fixed Keats with a stare that could freeze Hell.


	9. Phonebooth Fingerprints

"Will you talk to me, dammit? Giving me the silent treatment won't do you any good, Wolfe." Keats tried to use his last name against him, suggesting that their relationship was taking a giant step backward. _What relationship? A kiss doesn't mean anything to a guy like Ryan. How stupid am I?_

Keats sighed and left Ryan in the Lab while she went in search of Eric Delko. Horatio had already given her the third degree on why she shouldn't go into the field alone, so she decided to take along the cute Cuban for company.

"Delko? You up for a wild goose chase?" Keats asked him, grabbing her keys from her locker. She had caught him as he was returning from his lunch hour, hounding on him as soon as he'd clocked back in.

"Wolfe can't make it?" Delko asked, puzzled. Keats shook her head.

"I didn't ask Wolfe. I asked you. Now do you wanna go?"

They sped down the highway in Keats' Corsica, feeling every bump on the road magnified by ten-fold. Delko's face had changed color and took on a rather greenish hue. He grabbed the dash with one hand and clutched his stomach with the other.

"Do you think I'm a bad driver?" Keats asked with a wounded look on her face. Eric Delko pinched his lips together and rolled down the passenger side window, sticking his head out.

They arrived at Maria's mansion twenty minutes later, passing a swarm of cops as they went and more than a mile of caution tape. Delko excused himself from Keats, running toward the gas station bathroom down the road from the mansion. Keats gazed after him fondly, thinking him ever-so-kind not to criticize her driving.

As she stared in the direction of the gas station, she noticed a bright green payphone next to the full-serve pumps_. Eric, you're a genius!_ She followed him and took out a tiny notepad, jotting down the address of the service station.

She began using her brush to take fingerprints from the phone, working carefully through dozens of different prints. After awhile, Delko joined her, looking nauseated and impatient.

"Did we find what we were looking for?" Delko said in a soft, strained voice. Keats nodded emphatically. She handed him her findings and they shared a blissful moment that only accomplishment could afford.

Keats began hacking away at her computer with the collection of fingerprints and came up with a productive list of suspects. She entered them in the database and went through them one by one.

"Peter Sullivan, hotel manager from New York, two speeding tickets in the last twenty-three years, aged forty. Nah…too young," Keats murmured, continuing on down the list, "Charles Burton, unemployed, arrested once for marijuana possession, married five times, aged seventy-six…too _old_."

"Douglas Fitzhugh, bartender at Club Ace, convicted of running a tattoo parlor without a license, aged fifty-three…deaf-mute…" Keats slapped her forehead in frustration as she eliminated nearly every single name from the list.

"Maybe our mystery man had someone else dial for him." Calleigh said, sitting beside her. She had volunteered to assist Keats as she learned the ropes of database deduction.

"That would be just my luck, too." Keats muttered. She glanced at a few more potential people until the next to last one caught her eye.

"Wait a sec…take a look at this one," Keats gestured to the screen excitedly, "Dennis Harrison Haney, bouncer at Club Ace, aged fifty-two, arrested for unruly conduct on twelve different occasions, arrested for carrying a concealed weapon twice, charged three times with attempted assault, battery and rape…the list goes on and on." Keats snapped her fingers.

"This is our guy. I'm positive." Keats said, ready to confront the man who had threatened her life. Calleigh gave her a pert nod and a pat on the shoulder.

"Just make sure you have the right person before you do anything rash or impulsive, Junie. I'd hate for anything to happen to you." Calleigh's blue eyes twinkled with compassion. Keats nodded solemnly.

"Don't worry, Calleigh, I'll behave…I'll take Cooper to the club with me!"

Friday night and time for Cooper's date with Keats. She had sought after him before then, asking him to take her to Club Ace. Cooper agreed and he went home early to get ready. Ryan watched him leave, more than well-aware of his plans for the evening. In one way, he was glad that Cooper was taking Keats off his hands. She was trouble incarnate. But she was also the feisty little punk that had caught his attention and had kept it.

"Something on your mind, Ryan?" Natalia Boa Vista leaned over the table and gazed into his tense face. Ryan shook his head, caught quite off-guard by the simple question.

"Good. We need to go to Club Ace and question a few people. Calleigh didn't want K.J. to do it, so I told her that we could. Is that all right with you?" Boa Vista placed a beautiful bronzed hand on her shapely hip. Ryan shrugged and his face became difficult to read.

Keats met Dan Cooper outside of the club dressed in a tight leopard print dress and shoes, her shimmering red hair a perfect compliment to her outfit. Dan sucked in his breath and stood staring at her with the eyes of a man who's just seen an oasis in the desert.

"Thanks." Keats blushed a bit and took Cooper's arm. They entered the club and were immediately assaulted by the smoky atmosphere and blaring techno music. Keats led him to the bar and she ordered a jello shot. The man, who was fifty-ish, spoke in harsh English and asked for I.D.

Keats formed her fingers into words and signed to the man, hoping he was Douglas Fitzhugh.

The man signed back furiously, telling her he wouldn't reveal anything under any circumstances.

"If I had known you were gonna lure me here to work I would've stayed home and watched football." Dan said with a frown. Keats immediately felt remorse for tricking Cooper. _He certainly doesn't deserve this crap._

Keats let her eyes apologize for her, giving him her best apologetic glance. She leaned in closer to him and gave him a sweet kiss.

"Don't be mad, Cooper. I'm just addicted to my job, that's all. I have to find the guy who did this to me." Keats held her arm up for Cooper to see the thick scar that wove around her veins like a river. Dan Cooper nodded in understanding and placed his hand on her back comfortingly.

"Guess who's come to wreck the party?" Natalia mumbled, glancing sideways at the form of K.J. Remington. Ryan craned his neck beyond the man in front of him and squinted when he recognized Keats. She was on the arm of Dan Cooper, in an obvious ploy to make Ryan jealous. Or so he thought until he realized that Keats had no knowledge that Ryan would even be at Club Ace.

"Glad to see ya, Little Red." D.H. Haney popped a cigarette in his mouth and sat beside Keats when Cooper had toddled off to the bathroom.

"D.H…we finally meet in the light. Forgive my ambitions, but I plan to make sure you're grungy tail is tossed in the pound."


	10. Gut Instinct

D.H. laughed and a thick cloud of smoke hid him momentarily from Keats' sight. He appeared to be amused, as though he liked his prey to fight in order to make the game more interesting. Keats could promise him a fight.

"What do you say we get out of here…have a nice little chat man to woman." D.H. drawled in a husky tone. Keats laughed gently.

"Now what kind of fool do you think I am? Anything you have to say to me, you say it right here, darling'." Keats imitated his southern accent in a charming sort of way.

"You mean I'm safe here with all of your little cop friends?" D.H. asked condescendingly. Keats nodded, flipping her hair out of her eyes.

"No one knows what you look like except me. So talk." She replied.

"What the hell are you doing here, Wolfe? Checking up on us?" Cooper stood, his arms crossed over his chest menacingly. Ryan glanced at Natalia, as though disbelieving that Cooper could actually pick a fight.

"Official police business, Cooper." Ryan gritted his teeth. Natalia rolled her eyes and made a few notes in a yellow legal pad. Cooper was, to say the least, dissatisfied with this response.

"Don't come near my date, Wolfe." Cooper said. Somehow it sounded more like a plea than a warning. Cooper stole a few glimpses across the bar and was abruptly confronted by the sight of Keats talking to another man. Cooper stared, knowing that if he came back it would be awkward. Cooper was not one for awkward conversation.

"Who's K.J. talking to over there?" Natalia asked curiously. She could feel an altercation brewing and she wanted a front-row seat. Ryan finally let himself look at Keats and despite the apparent innocence of it all, something was amiss. It wasn't a sensation he could readily explain, but he knew it was kinda like what Keats had when she got her infamous hunches. It was a gut instinct.

"Natalia, be prepared to call for backup if necessary. Cooper, stay with Natalia and sit tight. This guy's probably bad news." He began making his way across the dance floor, but stopped when Cooper blocked his path.

"I can handle it, Wolfe. She's my responsibility." Cooper said, his usual boyish gleam replaced by another look that had depth and sincerity. Ryan nearly wanted to shout that she was _his_ responsibility, but he bit off the words before they could escape.

"Cooper, this isn't about rescuing a girl, it's about backing up an agent." Ryan managed to say calmly. Cooper knew he had to step down, and resented Ryan's seniority over him. He had to turn the evening over to Ryan because his hands were tied. Cooper found it difficult not to harbor a grudge against his colleague.

"You mean like make a deal? I didn't take you for a shrewd businessman, Red. It kinda turns me on." D.H. took another puff and Keats coughed purposefully, trying to rid her lungs of the smoke.

"Good for you, Haney. And yes, I think we can come to some sort of mutual agreement." Keats tried to read the expression on his face but D.H. had maintained that same charismatic smile throughout the entire exchange.

"You mean my original plan of sparing your life in return for the vindication of my partners is…non-negotiable?" D.H. clicked his tongue as though scolding her for being so terribly simplistic. Keats could sense his entire 'Good Ole Southern Boy' routine was just a façade. She could feel the rage permeating from under his skin.

"There happen to be several cops here. More than you think. You're practically surrounded. All I have to do is give the word…" Keats prayed that her bluff sounded believable. If he didn't believe her, he certainly showed no signs of it.

"Hmm…what are you going to parlay for? I have nothing you want except me. I ain't going to the pen peacefully. You can bet your ass I won't." D.H. stated.

"If you turn yourself in, you'll get a reduced sentence. Otherwise, my men could just nail you right now and you might as well pick up a few nursing home pamphlets, 'cause that's how old you'll be when you get out." Keats took a sip of her ginger ale, letting her words sink in.

From the corner of her eye, Keats spotted Ryan and silently cursed her fate. She was seconds away from getting Haney to turn himself in and Ryan was all ready to ruin her progress.

"Baby, where have you been? I missed you." Ryan let his lips fall on her creamy shoulder. Keats tensed up, but Ryan pretended he didn't notice.

"Thanks for taking care of my girl while I went to the bathroom." Ryan forged ahead with the deception, clearly comfortable with pretending that Keats was his lover. Keats turned away and rolled her eyes.

D.H. grinned and blew a cloud of smoke in their faces.

"Just who's fooling who here, huh?" He said, the ever-present smile suddenly fading. In its place was something far more ominous.

The music seemed to grow louder with the lethal silence that settled in. Haney's hand disappeared inside his jacket and before Ryan could grab his own weapon, Haney shoved it in Keats' abdomen, making sure only the three of them could see it.

"Watch it, boy. I've been patient and merciful from the very beginning, but both are fast running out. Tell your pigs to back the hell off before I blow her to kingdom come. You hear me?" D.H. used his free hand to take another deep drag from his cigarette.

Ryan dialed Boa Vista's number, giving D.H. a harsh look.

"Ryan, what's going on?" Cooper shouted. Natalia stood by his side, wrinkling her forehead in anxiety. Ryan gauged Haney's face, wondering if he could get away with giving Cooper a code phrase.

"She's fine, Cooper," Ryan paused, giving the impression that Cooper was talking on the other end, "Yes, her arm is fine. She's not bleeding." Ryan hung up the phone and hoped that Cooper wasn't as dim-witted as he seemed.

"They're in trouble. Stay here and call Horatio. I'm gonna try and get a clear shot of that son-of-a-bitch from the balcony." Natalia yelled, trying to be heard over the music. Cooper's head was in a whirl, but he obeyed and notified his boss that an emergency was going down at Club Ace.

"So what now?" Ryan asked. D.H. shrugged, apparently more confident holding a gun in his hand.

"I walk outta here with my collateral," He wrapped an arm around Keats' waist, "and you let me. Simple as that."

Ryan's jaw hardened, his fingers curling tightly. He'd failed Keats once, but he vowed never to do it again.


	11. Change of Focus

Through his peripheral vision, Ryan noticed Boa Vista taking aim for Haney. The events that followed lasted only seconds, but time seemed suspended.

Ryan yanked Keats out of harm's way as the bullet from Natalia's gun lodged itself into Haney's shoulder. At the sound of gunfire, several screams broke out and the majority of the clubbers took to the floor. D.H. in a last attempt at control fired his gun at Keats. Ryan instinctively moved in front of her, bearing the brunt of his onslaught. He'd been shot in the collarbone, his left arm suddenly inert. He fell to his knees as D.H. dropped his weapon.

Boa Vista returned from the rafters and handcuffed Haney, alerting the paramedics that an officer was down. Keats knelt by Ryan, deeply touched by his action to shield her.

"No one's ever taken a bullet for me before…" Keats whispered to herself. Ryan gave a painful laugh.

"Don't get used to it, Keats." He answered. He held a bloodied hand over his injured collarbone.

"I don't know what to say. How do you thank someone for saving your life? There are no words…" Keats began, searching her brain for something to say that would compensate his courageous deed. But nothing could convey her heartfelt thanks.

"Dummy. Sometimes you don't need words, anyway." Ryan used his right hand and pulled her chin toward him and kissed her. She stared into his face and wondered what exactly the status was of their rather complicated relationship.

"June…do you want me to ground you from tv, young lady?" Horatio asked her, partially amused at Keats' negligent attitude toward protocol. They were sitting in his office again. Almost like back in High School when she'd had to visit the principal numerous times for cutting class.

"H, it wasn't like that. I was going on a date with Cooper and somehow we just happened to be at the same bar as Ryan and Natalia." Keats answered innocently. Horatio almost smiled in spite of himself.

"But that's still breaking the rules, Keats. We have a policy on romantic involvement in the Lab." Horatio leaned against his desk, fully intending to forgive Keats but having no problem with conning her into thinking she was in hot water.

"Um…whichever broken rule will get me into the least amount of trouble, that's the one I'll stick with." Keats hiked a sneaker-clad foot over the opposite knee and grinned.

"We can't pin anything on this guy except for shooting an officer. He'll get five years tops. And then what?" Delko gave Calleigh a frustrated look as they went over Haney's file.

"I don't know. But I'm pretty sure a man like Haney will get out on bail. He seems like the type of guy with rich connections." She said. Delko ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed.

"And none of the witnesses have come forward with any information?" Delko held onto a tiny sliver of hope. Calleigh shook her head slowly.

"I plan on leaving this sterile nightmare in less than a month. You don't have anything on me." D.H. said to Ryan in the tiny interrogation room. Keats was on the opposite end of the two-sided mirror listening to their dialogue.

"What if I told you that Delacrosse sold you out? Would you still be so confident?" Ryan's entire shoulder had been wrapped in a tight casing and he found it rather difficult to function with his body imbalanced.

"Delacrosse is insane. Nothing he says will hold up in court, pal." D.H. yawned, apparently having gone through something like this before. Ryan turned and glanced at his reflection in the double-sided mirror, wondering what Keats was thinking.

"There's nothing we can for the case at this juncture. I'll get a few people to backtrack but in the meantime I need my team focused on other cases." Horatio stood beside Keats, analyzing D.H.'s face. Keats looked up at him in confusion.

"Oh, but H, we…" Keats stopped when she took into account how hard it must have been for Horatio to make that call. She nodded obediently and closed Haney's file.

Keats and Ryan walked side by side into the parking area of the Miami Dade P.D. It had been a rather maddening day considering the circumstances, and the two of them were left with unresolved emotions concerning the case.

"I've been thinking about my heroics lately…surely I deserve more than just a kiss, Keats." Ryan stood beside his hummer trying to look coy.

"Uh…you didn't get the memo? We're not allowed to see each other and some junk." Keats traced circles in the air near her head as if to suggest the very idea was ludicrous. Ryan gave a tiny shrug.

"It's more of a…'we don't _recommend_ you see anyone in the office' rather than flat-out prohibition. See the difference?" Ryan leaned just the slightest bit closer to Keats. The sudden awareness of the intimate contact drove Keats crazy with anticipation and fear.

Despite the fact that they shared an electric chemistry, Ryan was still several years older than she was. The wide range between their ages would eventually create a chasm between them. _Is it really worth it to delve this deep when it'll only end in heartbreak?_

Then, as if reading her thoughts, Ryan placed a warm hand on her cheek.

"Give us a chance, Keats. That's all I ask." Ryan said with a frankness that nearly startled her. Keats smiled up at him, kissing him gently.

"In exchange for outstanding service in the line of duty, I'll go with you as far as we can make it…without killing each other, that is. I still maintain you're one of the most arrogant men I've ever encountered."

Delko examined the latest scene with uncomfortable familiarity. The rusty pool hall where he had spent countless weekends over the last year was the setting for one of the most brutal bloodbaths Eric had ever seen. A total of nine bodies lay sprawled all over the place, each with his own particular cause of death. It was almost as if each man had drawn death suggestions out of a hat in a twisted game of Russian Roulette.

Keats snapped a few pictures, getting more and more affected by the scene with every captured shot.

"Eric, what's the matter?" Keats had been wanting to ask and finally plucked up the courage to do so.

"Nothing. I've just been here before, that's all." Delko turned away, barely keeping his emotions in check. He wanted to know if he knew the victims, but their faces were so horribly mangled that identification was impossible. It ripped him up inside just to follow through like it was any other crime scene.

"Eric, you know you have to step back if you have a personal involvement in the case…" Calleigh had been sampling blood from the scene, but now stood facing him with her tainted gloves. Delko nodded, his eyes almost disappearing behind a thin layer of tears. His face remained cold and remote.

Back in the Lab, Calleigh was demonstrating to Keats how blood was tested and labeled. After using a few tests from the starter kits the police force provided them with every year, Keats was able to get the hang of it. Calleigh divvied up the blood samples from the crime scene and together they worked at giving each victim a name and face.

After a few hours of matching database files with blood samples, Keats was affronted what she assumed had to be a mistake. The seventh sample of blood had been traced back to Eric Delko. She retested the blood, going over every step carefully. After running it through the computer a second time, she came up with the exact same result as before.

"Calleigh…one of the samples belongs to Delko." She said.


	12. Stedman Pool Hall Massacre

"Eric, would you care to explain to me how your blood made its way to the scene of our latest case?" Horatio wasted no time in finding Delko. The protective side of Horatio emerged and he decided to keep the information confidential until he could find a suitable reason.

"H, I honestly can't say." Delko replied uneasily. Horatio's eyes glinted with intrigue.

"You mean to say you really don't know or you are not at liberty to say…which one?" Horatio stood in a slant, adding a rough edge to his voice.

"I don't know why it was there. I swear on Marisol's grave, H." At the mere mention of Marisol, both men became unnervingly silent.

"I believe you, Eric. We're going to settle this very soon."

"Eric…since everyone else knows you better than I do, they instructed me to ask you a few questions about the case. But if it makes you uncomfortable, you have every right to ask for someone other than me." Keats trembled as she sat across from Eric Delko. His integrity was being questioned and his absolution was only possible if Keats didn't screw up.

"It's fine. Ask me anything." Delko sat back, his entire body rigid.

"Um…let's start with where you were last night. The night of the massacre at Stedman Pool Hall." Keats held her pen ready, hoping his answers wouldn't condemn him.

"I was in the Lab. Boa Vista and I were filling out some last minute paperwork on the Haney case." Eric sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Did you know any of the victims?" Keats set out several pictures in an even line. The pictures were ones of the young men before they had met their untimely ends. Delko sifted through the photographs and bit his lip.

Joey…Carlos…Darren…Mike…Anthony." He pointed to the five he knew, his voice cracking. Keats made a note in his file and pressed on, finding it almost painful to ask Eric the same kinds of questions she would of common criminals.

"And what was the nature of your relationship with these men?" Keats asked.

"They were just some guys I hung out with on weekends. They were cool." Delko held his head down, avoiding Keats' gaze.

"Was there an argument? An aggressive dispute, perhaps?" Keats chewed on the cap of her pen. Delko ran his fingers through his hair, quite distressed.

"I…I walked in last week…Carlos was doing a couple lines of crack…him and Anthony were paying Mike for a few hits…even though I was off duty…I pulled a gun on 'em." Eric could hear their voices echoing in his head quite clearly.

'Are you kiddin' me, Delko? You'd whip a gun out on your friends? That's cold, man…'

"Then what happened?" Keats became riveted by his story.

"I started reading 'em their rights and then…" Delko remembered only too well how that went down.

'We trusted you, man.' They had shouted obscenities and threatened him, but losing their friendship had been the worst part.

"Joey came at me from the side. Tried to knock me out." He said. Keats imagined Delko being socked in the face, blood spewing from his mouth. The position of the blood and the amount of blood checked out in her head.

"Eric, why didn't you come forward with this information before?" Keats asked, realizing that his poor choice might actually have cost him his job.

"I opened fire on Joey. Just in his leg. I screwed up, had to the leave the scene. I knew if anyone found out they'd try to involve me in a drug scandal. I thought it best if I wait it out and stay quiet." Delko exhaled painfully. The truth had been hard to face, especially after it had been misguidedly suppressed.

"You thought wrong, Eric. I'm disappointed. You used your weapon off-duty…What were you thinking, Agent Delko?" Horatio entered the interrogation room with a heavy frown.

Keats stood by idly as Eric's lawyer was called as well as a few prosecutors intending to crucify Eric. _He made a mistake. I make mistakes, too._ Keats brushed away a few stray tears that had fallen down her cheeks.

"Come on, crybaby. Give me a smile." Ryan said, lifting her lips with his thumb and forefinger. Keats had cried ever since he brought her home. He was afraid she'd drown if he left her by herself.

"I can't. What if Eric loses his job? What if he has to go to prison?' Keats was on the verge of another outburst, but Ryan did the unthinkable and laughed. She glared at him, trying to understand his indifference.

"Delko's a big boy. He does all right on his own, Keats. He's been through some pretty tough situations before, but he managed to come through them unscathed. And if I know the way the system works, this should all blow over in like a month." Ryan gave her another smile and ruffled her hair. Keats felt better instantly. Ryan's words, his touch…they had the power to heal her.

_Wait a second…Ryan NEVER smiles…if he's smiling then something is seriously wrong. _Keats began to wail loudly and Ryan wondered just what he'd said that made things worse.

Natalia watched as Delko began packing a few things up in boxes. He would give her a reassuring look every now and then as if it were only temporary. But deep down they both knew better.

"Cheer up, Natalia. I'll be back in a few days. This is just the way proceedings go…it doesn't mean I'm gone forever. I'll be back." He said, closing some of the boxes. Natalia inched closer to Delko, struggling to express her feelings. She was frustrated with Eric for getting himself into this mess. She was concerned for his well-being. But more than anything, she was afraid that she was still very much enamored with Eric Delko. Their past seemed to haunt her, lingering as if to torture her.

"What went wrong with us?" She asked. She had suddenly forgotten why they weren't together anymore, even though it had seemed important at the time.

"We just weren't right for each other, I guess. There's never an easy answer for something like that, you know?" Delko placed a consoling hand on Natalia's shoulder.

"Spare me, Delko. I don't need to feel better just because you're trying to let me down easy." She brushed his hand away, pained by the fact that she'd been rejected before she could even admit her feelings.

Natalia Boa Vista turned on her heel and stormed out of the Lab before Eric could reply.


	13. Vindicated

"Eric, I want you to listen to me. I'm disappointed in you for lying, but I'm not ready to lose you as an agent. I want you to sit tight and wait till I call you, understand?" Horatio told him as Eric was leaving the building with the last of his boxes. Eric nodded and took a long look at the building he had come to regard as a second home. With any luck, he might not have to say goodbye forever.

"Keats, I want you to come with me to Chuck DeGrassi's house. Chuck is the brother of the late Carlos DeGrassi, one of our victims." Horatio took her by the hand and led her to his hummer. He put on his signature shades and gave Keats a smile that spoke volumes.

"Do you have a plan under your sleeve, H?" Keats asked teasingly. Horatio said nothing, but his happy silence as he drove answered her question better than mere words.

Chuck DeGrassi was the Personal Assistant of the Mayor's Secretary. He lived in a villa overlooking the harbor and was quite well-off considering his only occupation was to stir coffee and spread cream cheese on bagels. His brother's demise and the circumstances surrounding it gave Horatio the upper hand, and ultimately better bargaining power.

"Were you aware that Carlos was using cocaine, Mr. DeGrassi? Is that why you severed all ties with him before serving on the mayor's payroll?" Horatio gave him a steely-eyed stare. DeGrassi flushed and dug the end of his cigar in a $400 ashtray.

"What my brother does with his time is _his_ business. I make it very clear to my superiors that I do not consort with him." DeGrassi wiggled his fingers, making his gold rings sparkle in the Miami sunshine.

"Are you also aware that your brother was involved in a drug-smuggling ring that took an erroneous turn the other night? His body and the bodies of eight other men were found. I think the exchange went sour. How about you?" Horatio placed his palm on the side of his hip and leaned closer to DeGrassi, who had been lounging in a deck chair since they'd arrived. DeGrassi squirmed under Horatio's harsh glare.

"I…I didn't realize…" He began in broken Spanish. Keats began to see the relevance of his inquiries.

"How much does a personal assistant of the Mayor's Secretary get paid, Mr. DeGrassi? Enough to surpass his boss in living expenses?" Keats smiled, sensing that they had him cornered.

"You were the kingpin of that smuggling ring, weren't you, DeGrassi? It's easy to transport your precious cargo unseen when the Mayor's signature is on it. Isn't that right, DeGrassi?"

Horatio sat in the driver's seat of his hummer while Keats sat beside him in shotgun. The air between them was one of utter satisfaction and humor. A few seconds later, Horatio's cell phone rang and he flipped it open with vigor.

"Lt. Caine speaking…Yes, I was hoping you'd make that arrangement. Good to hear from you. I appreciate your cooperation, Mr. DeGrassi." Horatio ended the call and gave Keats a meaningful look. He then dialed the number to Eric Delko's cell and waited.

"Eric? The Mayor of Miami has given you an official pardon. You've got a clean slate and I expect you to use it. No more mistakes, Eric. I also expect you to pull a double shift to make up for your day off. By the way, you're welcome."

Horatio gave Keats a wink and she grinned with extreme pride. Horatio _had_ to be one of the greatest men she'd ever met in her life.

"What about DeGrassi? Aren't we going to arrest him?" Keats asked.

"That wasn't part of the plan. The corruption at state level will have to wait while we sharpen our claws, June. We'll get them someday."

"Welcome back, Delko." Keats hugged Eric close to her, extremely grateful that his fate had been a merciful one. Eric had returned to the Lab immediately and within a few hours it was as though he'd never left at all.

"So DeGrassi supplied the drugs, and the brother was more or less a messenger along with Mike and that other guy…right?" Keats made a few notes in the case file with the help of Ryan Wolfe.

"That other guy? I hope you're not putting that in the file." He said smugly.

"Well what's his name then, smarty?" Keats made a childish face at him.

"Anthony Fuentez…I struggle to grasp how you came so highly recommended." Ryan quipped. Keats stared at him in shock with her mouth open. Taking advantage of this, Ryan brought his lips to hers. Keats closed her eyes, everything else fading away.

Maxine Valera had noticed a severe change in Boa Vista's mood, but hadn't really cared to wonder why…until Natalia exhibited some rather unhealthy tendencies.

"He _would_ say that! Damn him. Damn all men!" She would mutter to herself. Valera kept out of her way for the most part, but curiosity got the better of her after a time.

"Something wrong, Natalia?" She asked while they furthered the blood work from the Stedman Pool Hall case. Natalia threw her hands up and screamed.

"He never even let me finish, the bastard! I should be the one warding _him_ off with a stick and a can of mace!" She yelled.

Valera backed away very slowly.

"Cooper? Can I ask a dumb question?" Keats knocked on the door and waltzed in, taking a seat beside him. Cooper shrugged, trying to shake the fact that he still adored her like crazy.

"How come a beautiful woman like Calleigh Duquesne isn't married or seeing anyone? She's funny, kind, intelligent, resourceful…Heck, _I'd_ marry her. She's wonderful!" Keats blurted out, kind of wishing she'd left the last part out. Cooper glanced over at Keats thoughtfully.

"I think most people are more or less married to this Lab. In Calleigh's case, I think she's been burned too many times. She wised up, I guess." Cooper had never really considered why she wasn't involved with someone. Calleigh just seemed too smart for it.

"That's incredibly depressing…I think everyone deserves to be happy and in love. Working at Miami Dade is great and all, but at the end of the day, you want to come home to someone who cares. Right?" Keats' face took on an almost childlike and innocent glow as she imparted her romanticized notions of love that she had carried all throughout her young life. Cooper was hard-pressed to find anything wrong with that.

"Right…" He said, gazing at her fondly, if a bit sadly.


	14. Down by the Beach

Side note: If anyone has a particular request for a pairing or just something they'd like to see happen in the story, I'm all ears. Also, I confess to having a bit of a problem with this chapter. Maybe the reviews were getting to my head.

I was also kinda worried that maybe since Keats was my own creation and not a main character on the show, that bringing her family and friends into play was too much. But Keats' life is pretty interesting, so I hope no one will be disappointed.

Dear Jelly,

I've cleared it with the R.A. in the dorms and my parents. I get to come stay with you for five days during Spring Break after all! I can't wait to have sleepovers and stuff. Plus, you HAVE to tell me about this Ryan guy. Are you an item or what? Anywho, I'm looking forward to meeting that hot Cuban co-worker of yours…swoon

Yours until Cats Kill Mountains,

Peanut Butter

Keats smiled at down at the letter in her hands. She had missed Patty terribly during the last term and had desperately hoped that she'd be able to visit. Sarasota, though not too far away, had been distant enough that they hadn't been able to see each other since she relocated to Miami.

Ryan glanced curiously at the letter, finding it rather outdated by practically any standards.

"I've never seen anybody actually write a letter before. It's mildly refreshing…" Ryan said with a smile. Keats nodded.

"Not at all surprised. Letter writing is a dying art form. Kind of like playing the glockenspiel." She said, taking a piece of paper from her desk. She set about to reply to Patty at once.

"You're really weird, Keats. Just letting you know…" He said.

Ryan was hanging out at Keats' apartment, which was fast becoming a habit. But this mysterious letter from Keats' best friend had caused him to wonder about her family. Keats had never once mentioned anything about her family.

"Am I going to meet your parents at some point in time? Do you have any siblings? A crazy uncle even?" Ryan laid his hand over the blank piece of paper in front of her. Keats looked at him, the words forming themselves in her head, but somehow getting lost in translation.

"You really don't want to know, Ryan. I don't even want to know sometimes, and I love them more than anyone." She kept her eyes averted from him, not wanting to explain why she didn't want them to meet.

"That bad, huh? My family gets pretty overbearing, but that's family. It comes with the territory. Now if there's something you want to talk about, I'll listen. Don't feel like you have to hide something from me." Ryan pulled her chin up, his eyes boring into her own with fervor. _Ryan really meant what he said…when did he get to be so sweet?_

"My parents are divorced…blah, blah, that whole deal. Quite frankly, they embarrass me. Especially when they're together. It's like seating a vegan next to a butcher at a dinner party. My siblings are okay, though. Three brothers, one sister, one step-sister, one step-brother, two half-sisters, and a half-brother. You asked for it, pal." Keats said. Ryan gave her hair an affectionate tug, letting the silken tips caress his fingers.

"You know something, Keats? I just realized we've never really gone out on an official date. We went out to eat once, but at the time I was convinced you hated me. So how about we forget about family and friends for now and just think about each other." He lifted her to her feet and took her hand warmly, squeezing with soft gentleness.

She watched the waves roll back and forth with eternal rhythm. The ethereal beauty of the ocean in twilight took her breath away and Keats seemed a bit surprised that Ryan brought her to the beach.

"I didn't take you for a beach bunny, or a big kahuna…" Keats said, laughing softly. Ryan rolled his eyes playfully. Keats stared at him for awhile, half-guessing that he wouldn't sit down unless he had a towel. Unfortunately they had gone on a spontaneous whim, bringing no bathing suits, beach bags, or towels.

"Oh, you are so predictable. Here, I have a hankie." Keats whipped out a floral handkerchief and set it out daintily on a dry spot of sand. She made a big show of it, brushing off the hankie before Ryan sat down. But instead of sitting down, he tackled her where she stood. She fell back onto the sand, Ryan's body crushing down on hers.

"Who needs a hankie when I can just lay on you?" He replied with a wry grin.


	15. Coffee and Keats

His lips came down hard on hers. His fingers ran through her hair, bringing them to rest on her jaw, giving him better access to her mouth.

"Ah…there's sand in my shorts." Keats cried, laughing. She wriggled under him until he rolled off her. She jumped to her feet and hopped up and down, pulling at her denim shorts and squealing. Ryan gave a laugh that Keats had never heard before. A laugh that was low and sensual, full of humor and arousal.

Ryan pulled her closer to him by the loops in her shorts. She hobbled forward shyly as he wrapped his strong arms around her waist.

"Stay with me tonight…" Ryan whispered in her ear. Keats bit her lip nervously. She hadn't been intimate with Ryan and was almost reluctant to change the dynamic in their relationship so soon. Sex, she knew, changed things tremendously.

Natalia Boa Vista headed toward her car at a leisured pace. She was reluctant to leave somehow. Every day she had hoped that Eric would come to his senses and realize he had made a mistake. They were good together, and even if they weren't meant to be, he didn't have the right to blow her off the way he did.

And then it occurred to her why they broke up. Eric felt they were moving too fast and admitted he wasn't ready. Natalia stopped in her tracks, eyes wide with clarity.

She began to wonder if she hadn't jeopardized her relationship with Eric by falling into commitment mode. It was so easy to do, especially after coming from a marriage that lacked commitment. Perhaps wishful thinking had made her 'jump the gun.'

"It really was my fault, wasn't it?" She said, pulling out of the parking lot. Her lashes sparkled as she blinked away her tears.

A shadowy flash darted in front of her and Natalia hit the breaks.

"What the hell, Eric, you could have gotten killed!" She shouted as she rolled her window down. Eric ran to the driver's side door and latched onto her window breathlessly.

"Natalia…what you said the other day. I got to thinking. About us, I mean." He stared at her, his intense eyes making Natalia's stomach flutter.

"And?" She asked, trying not to sound too eager.

"And I think…we should grab a cup of coffee together." He said with a nervous smile.

"Get in." She gestured to the seat beside her. Delko beamed at her, slipping into the passenger side of her car.

Keats prized a lazy eye open. It was Saturday morning and she was in Ryan's bed. Alone. She looked at the clock on his nightstand that read 12:33. Ryan would have already been at the Lab for quite some time.

Her cheeks colored slightly when she remembered what they had done the previous night. She felt a warm, cozy feeling inside.

And after glorifying the act for a few more dreamy moments lying in his bed, under his sheets, she began to recall the logistics. Such as the fact that neither one of them had used any protection_. Maybe Ryan assumed that I was on birth control. But sexually inactive girls don't use Ortho Tri Cyclen. _

_How did that not come up in conversation?_


	16. Lunch with the Family

Keats dressed herself, since there was no point lazing about in Ryan's bed when she couldn't even enjoy it. She let herself out even though Ryan had left a note by the bed asking her to stay. She glanced at it fondly, wondering if she should pretend that she hadn't seen it.

She left in a panic, wondering what plan of action she should take. It was too soon to go to a clinic and get tested…perhaps not. _Who can I ask about this?_

_I don't want Horatio, Calleigh, or Alexx thinking badly of me, even if I do deserve it…and I can't talk to Delko or Cooper about girl stuff…and to be honest I don't particularly care for Natalia…which leaves just one person._

Keats knocked on the door to the DNA Lab. Maxine Valera smiled and beckoned her to come in.

"We haven't really gotten to know each other well, but…you were the only person I could think of who can help me." Keats said, her face lined with trepidation. Valera seemed rather confused, but she nodded, wanting to help.

"What's wrong? I don't know if I'll be able to do anything for you but I can try." Maxine said kindly. Keats let out a relieved sigh.

"Thanks…it means a lot to me." Keats told her.

Maxine listened attentively as Keats described the situation to her. Keats conveniently left out the fact that Ryan was involved as well, but that was only to safeguard their careers.

"It _is_ a bit early to discern a pregnancy, but give it another day or two. You can come back then and I'll administer the test personally and keep the results confidential. But you might want to tell the guy you're seeing, regardless…Oh, and K.J.? I'm flattered that you came to me. Natalia was so wrong about you!" Maxine exclaimed, suddenly realizing she'd said too much.

"She did, did she? I figured as much, I guess." Keats rolled her eyes, thanking Valera as she left.

Keats ducked around in hallways, trying to make her way out of the building unobserved. She kept her head down as well in case anyone should recognize her. But in keeping her head down, she didn't notice where she was going… and inadvertently bumped into her boss.

"Ooof!" Keats grunted as she fell to the floor. She stared up into the face of one Horatio Caine and smiled as though everything was perfectly peachy.

"You have a day off today, correct? Just can't get enough of solving mysteries, huh?" Horatio said. It was a loaded statement.

"I don't know what you mean." Keats replied. Horatio helped her up and brushed her off.

"I think you do, June. And this is a mystery that does affect me, so I'd very much like to hear it." He led her to his office and she sighed to herself. All the sneaking around she had done hadn't made any difference.

"I appreciate the fact that you came to the Lab first. It shows that you have a solid investment in this place. I can understand why you didn't come to me, even though that doesn't make it any less of a letdown…Here's how it's going to work. Until we find out for sure, you're restricted to working in the Lab. If you want, you can start working your shift now, as I'm probably certain you don't want to use your free time to stay home and knit." Horatio sat at the edge of his desk, giving Keats a comforting smile. He couldn't imagine having to whittle away the hours until finding out something that could potentially do a major overhaul on his life. Keats agreed with him gratefully. She rose to leave his office so that her shift could begin.

"Oh, June, by the way…does Ryan know?" He asked. Keats shook her head, rather embarrassed that he had known about Ryan and that he'd caught her practically lying to him.

"Don't you think he should know?" He asked simply. Keats nodded and retreated to the ballistics Lab where she was almost certain she'd find Ryan.

Sure enough, he was gazing into his microscope in the Lab. He heard the shuffling of her feet and looked up at her with a smile. Keats' stomach did a flip-flop and she was sorely disappointed that she couldn't enjoy gazing into Ryan's face without thinking about a baby in the picture.

"Keats, I thought you had the day off?" He gave her a look that warmed her very core. She bit her lip, knowing only too well that what she had to say would ruin all that.

"Yo, K.J.? There's some people at the front desk here to see you…" Delko interrupted as Keats was about to spill the beans. It dawned on Keats exactly who had shown up to mortify her in front of her colleagues. Her parents.

Keats excused herself from Ryan and Eric, a sickening feeling spreading to the four corners of her body. She glanced ahead of her, confirming her original suspicions as she watched an extremely out of place couple take snapshots of the wall.

"Mom…Dad…what possessed you to come here?" Keats asked, trying to keep her voice level. T.C. Remington and his ex-wife Selvia enveloped their daughter in a tight hug.

"We wanted to see where you were doing your internship. Patty Barrington didn't tell us a damn thing, so we decided to get our fannies up here and see for ourselves." T.C. grunted, his imposing, lean form towering over his petite ex-wife.

"Well, we were curious, honey…um, dear, why are you wearing a gun?" Selvia was a natural honey blond, and a natural dim-wit to boot. She gazed at Keats and turned her head slightly to look at her gun and badge that the Law Enforcement offices had loaned to her until she became an official CSI.

"So where's the rest of the brood?" Keats asked, peering around them nervously.

"At the hotel. We figured the two of us would come collect you and then we'd all have lunch together." Her father pinched her cheek fondly, wrapping his arm around her.

Keats clocked out for lunch and sat in the backseat of her father's Buick listening to the two of them argue. Her mother had been a model in her hey-day and she lived off the royalties for years. Her father was a brilliant lawyer and because of an iron-clad pre-nup that they both had agreed upon, they were still on speaking terms.

Selvia Remington Hastings remarried to an ancient-as-dirt oil tycoon. This tycoon had two spoiled brats of his own that never hesitated to put Keats in her place.

"How does it feel to be a public servant, Juniper? Some should toil so that others can live comfortably…" Wyler Hastings sniped with his nose in the air. His sister, Simone, gave a tinkly laugh and simpered, flipping her hair to the side.

Keats took a deep breath and smiled at her step-brother and step-sister as she sat down at the wide table in the hotel's restaurant. She grinned at her half-sisters Cecily and Lavinia, who grinned back revealing missing front teeth. She even managed to nod respectfully to her dad's new wife, Tina-Shelly, and gurgled at the bald baby boy in her arms.

"Where are the boys? And where's Sloane?" Keats asked, sampling her tasteless lemonade.

"They'll be down in a minute." Selvia said. Simone and Wyler snickered.

"Hey, hey, hey, little sis! Or should I say, Officer Remington…" Keats' three older brothers Glenn, Harvey, and Miles grabbed her and lifted her over their shoulders.

"Holy cow, Kit. What do they do to you down in the salt mines?" Keats turned to the sound of her sister's voice and smiled.

"Sloane…" Keats hugged her twin sister close to her. It had been a very long time indeed.


	17. Sisters

Keats lounged at the edge of Sloane's bed watching her play with her hair. Everyone had gone back to their respective hotel rooms after lunch with the promise of getting together at the pool after their food had digested.

"So what's the deal with this sudden get-together? Am I missing something here?" Keats asked, knowing that the Hastings wouldn't travel from Sarasota to Miami for the sole purpose of visiting her.

"I'm getting married here in two weeks. He's so wonderful, Kit, I can't wait for everyone to meet him. How about you, sis? Patty said something about you dating someone…" Sloane swirled around in her chair and faced Keats with utmost curiosity.

"Well…yes. He's my mentor until I graduate." Keats tried hard not to notice the shocked expression on Sloane's face.

"Have you slept with him, yet?" She asked worriedly. Keats swallowed hard.

"You did. Oh, Kit…you're a real woman now! I'm so happy for you!" Sloane flew into her arms and they tumbled to the floor with a thump.

Keats' secret stayed at the tip of her tongue all afternoon, wanting to be freed. She sprawled out in Sloane's bed, leaning on Sloane as they brought each other to date on their news. But one piece of news had yet to join the conversation.

"I didn't use anything. I feel like such an idiot, you know. But I can't find out for another two or three days. All I can do is wait…and worry." Keats sighed and murmured softly as Sloane stroked her hair.

"That explains why you looked so pale at lunch. Like you'd seen a ghost…Listen, Kit, you should talk to your boyfriend about this. That way, you can make plans in case it turns out you _are_."

"And if he doesn't know?" Keats asked guiltily.

Maxine Valera covered the entire expanse of the Crime Lab in search of Keats. She had a few more questions she forgot to ask her and she wanted to know them before she left work for the day.

"Ryan, have you seen K.J. recently?" Valera asked. Ryan was examining the prints from a bottle of tampered water.

"She went to be with her family, I think." He said, sampling a few granules of salt from the bottle.

"She _was_ at the beach. Our prime suspect just cemented her guilt." Ryan said with a smirk. Valera nodded, knowing very little of the case he was working on.

"I heard she came to you about something…" Ryan called to her as she began to leave. Valera's eyes grew very large and she froze in her tracks.

"Um…sure. You know, girl stuff. That kind of thing." Valera replied cheerfully, her voice trembling. Ryan's eyes narrowed. Valera wondered idly if Ryan was the prospective father.

"She didn't tell you?" Valera added, beginning to crack under the pressure.

"It's not a big deal, Ryan. Forget I ever mentioned it. See you around." Valera blurted as she took off running before Ryan could cross-examine her.

Keats wound a strip of Sloane's dyed honey blond hair around the curling iron. Sloane was twiddling her thumbs nervously. _No wonder. Her fiancée has to pass the acid test with our family. _

Keats heard her cell phone ring and she leaned over to answer it, pulling Sloane's head with her.

"Ouch, heifer! My hair!" Sloane cried. Keats returned to her standing position and gave an apologetic grimace. She then opened her phone and leaned it between her cheek and shoulder so that her hands were free to style Sloane's hair.

"Keats, I need to see you." Ryan said. His voice sounded hard yet concerned.

"What's wrong? Was the bottle a dead end?" She asked, referring to the case as though nothing were out of the ordinary.

"About last night. I feel like you've been avoiding me ever since." He admitted.

"Of course not, Ryan. I just…we need to talk about a few things, I guess." She said, barely noticing the fact that Sloane's hair was beginning to smoke.

Sloane let out a horrid scream that pierced Keats' eardrum and she dropped the curling iron, still attached to a portion of Sloane's hair.

"Can I call you right back?"

Keats unlocked the door to Ryan's apartment and waited on the sofa for his return, as promised. She didn't have to wait long, as Ryan bounded through the door twenty minutes later. He joined her on the couch and clasped onto one of her hands.

"Do you think we made a mistake? Because I don't think we did, Keats." He moved in closer, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, we did, but not the kind of mistake you're thinking about…I'm not using anything and I'm pretty sure we didn't use anything last night, so…"

Keats waited anxiously as he realized the gravity of what she'd told him. He rubbed the back of his neck, his face blank. She bit her lower lip worriedly, barely noticing the pain. Ryan stood up and went to the kitchen, tearing a paper towel and wetting it under the faucet. He returned to his seat and placed the damp paper towel against her lip.

"Your lip's bleeding, Keats. You shouldn't bite down so hard." He said absently. Keats let him hold the paper in place and tried to think of something to say that would break the uncomfortable silence.

"I really don't know what to say, Keats. I've never really been in this situation before." He said. Keats glanced at her watch and remembered the dinner at the hotel.

"You don't have to say anything, Ryan. I've got to go, anyway. My sister needs me." With that she stood and nearly ran out of his apartment, her breath caught in her throat. Ryan watched her leave, not knowing whether to stop her or give her space. But before he could make up his mind, she was gone.

Natalia smiled to herself as she thought about her date with Eric. He was taking her to a seafood restaurant later that night and she couldn't be happier. The pretenses were a little different ("We're just going as friends, okay?") but as long as there was definite hope for the future, that was all she needed.

Natalia peeked over Valera's shoulder and discovered she was looking at the procedure forms for pregnancy tests.

"Maxine, we don't really do _that_ kind of DNA study here." She said sharply.

"Oh, it's just for a friend. K.J. asked me to-" Maxine Valera gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth, brutally chastising herself.

"K.J. needs a preggers test? Ah, those crazy college kids and their crazy unprotected sex, huh? Next thing you know she'll be on Jerry Springer trying to find the father." Natalia said as she went back to her own pile of work.

Cecily and Lavinia, ages seven and five respectively, were hanging on Keats like little monkeys and cuddling up to her whenever she sat down. Keats didn't really like kids, but she adored Cecily and Lavinia. They were more fun than most people she had met at college.

"Hey, Kit, Mom bought us a Mr. Science Rocket Set yesterday. Can we set it off during the dinner?" Cecily asked mischievously. Lavinia giggled and pulled the box from behind her back.

Keats shrugged and told them it was a possibility. And when she first set eyes on Sloane's sleazy-looking fiancée, she knew it was more of a guarantee.

_That guy looks so familiar…I know him, I think. Oh, damn, I've seen that guy's picture in the criminal database. But for what?_


	18. Fire and Ice

"What have we got, Alexx?" Horatio asked. He took off his sunglasses and examined the body with a grim countenance. Another female victim, as was expected of Miami's newest serial killer.

"Poor baby…she probably never even saw it comin'. Take a look at these odd perforations in her chest. I can't identify what made them. Nothing at the crime scene matches the wounds." Alexx gently held down the skin to get a clearer view of the gashes in the victim's chest.

"But it matches the wounds from our other female victims of roughly the same age, correct?" Horatio confirmed. Alexx nodded slowly, quite intrigued.

"I'm going to put every available agent on this case, Alexx. We'll find him." He said, ready to call in his team to put in a few emergency hours.

"Mom, Dad, this is Esteban Lodovico Jarvis. The guy I want to marry." Sloane presented her little Hispanic sweetheart to the family. T.C. Remington cleared his throat and glared at Esteban.

"I think it would have been more respectful if you'd asked me first. I'm not exactly impressed with you, kid." He grunted. Sloane's face dropped.

"Daaaaaddy! You promised you wouldn't!" Sloane whined. Simone lit a cigarette and shared it with Wyler, who was apparently enjoying the entertainment.

"Dad…for real. You said you weren't gonna mess with the guy." Harvey jumped in. Keats and Sloane gave Harvey a grateful look.

"That was before I got a good look at the punk. He looks like a drug dealer. What kind of father would I be if I let my daughter marry a drug dealer?" He replied, edging closer to Esteban. Sloane carefully maneuvered herself in front of Esteban, blocking him from her over-protective father.

"He looks okay to me, baby." Tina-Shelly said, winking at Esteban. In all truth, Esteban was quite handsome, but he did have an aura of…sleazebag.

"Did anyone ask you?" Glenn shouted. Glenn hated Tina-Shelly more than any of the original Remingtons. It had everything to do with the fact that Tina-Shelly dated his best friend before moving on to his father.

"Watch your mouth, Glenn. This is none of your business." T.C. barked when Tina-Shelly made a childish pouting face. Glenn popped his knuckles furiously.

"It's none of her business, either, Pop." He retorted. Sloane grabbed the nearest waiter and wrestled a gin and tonic from his hands. She swallowed the entire thing down in five seconds and tossed it back to him. The glass sailed through the air and the waiter ran to catch it, bumping into Simone.

Simone spilled her Cosmopolitan into the ashtray and fixed the waiter with an icy glare. She turned around and stubbed her cigarette into the same ashtray, gasping as a tall flame rose.

"Tobias, stop yelling at your son!" Selvia screamed, anxious to end the fight. Keats nudged Cecily and Lavinia, pointing out the fire that had spread to the floral centerpieces.

"My God, you morons. We are in danger and all you can argue about is the Mexican man with the funny hat?" Wyler said, his eyes stuck on the burning blossoms.

Suddenly all eyes turned to the center of the table. The smoke was rising as the flames continued to climb higher and higher.

Selvia blinked a few times and passed out, falling out of her chair noisily. T.C. groaned and attacked the flame with his jacket. Tina-Shelly followed suit, pouring her daiquiri on top of the crackling embers.

"No!" Glenn and Harvey yelled. A mini-explosion occurred and Simone whimpered as the ash settled on her white silk gown. Sloane slapped her forehead and crossed her eyes.

"Whoa, action city!" exclaimed Miles, who had been taking it all in for awhile. Keats gave a sardonic laugh and grinned at her half-sisters.

"Now isn't this better than launching a rocket?" She thumbed the current bonfire behind her and nodded. Cecily and Lavinia burst into furious giggles.

After showering in her apartment, still chuckling over the fiasco with Sloane's engagement dinner, Keats checked her voicemails on her cell phone. Horatio apparently needed every available body working on the latest case. She dressed and immediately reported to the Miami Dade P.D. Crime Lab.

"What's going on?" Keats entered the Lab to find Calleigh and Eric running tests on the victim's clothes. The crime scene had been scant in evidence, so the only thing they could go by was whatever the victim had on her person at the time of her murder.

"The papers are calling him the Ladykiller." Eric said with scowl. Keats rolled her green eyes and gave a slight twitch.

"That's awfully original…" Keats said, surveying the blood-soaked bikini.

"The autopsy report revealed no tearing, so the sexual activity was consensual. As is customary of his victims." Calleigh murmured, sifting through the report disconsolately. More women were falling prey to the Ladykiller, but there was no cold hard evidence to convict anyone.

"Cooper, how are ya? Gotta favor to ask. Can you look up a guy named Esteban Jarvis for me?" Keats asked, putting an arm around him deceptively.

"I feel so cheap, Skeeter. I let you use me too much…I'll get right on it." He sighed and immediately began typing the name into the search engine. Keats leaned over him and gazed intently into the computer screen. Dan Cooper sat rigidly in his chair, allowing himself to inhale the sweet scent of Keats' hair.

"Cooper, what are you doing?" Keats raised her eyebrows.

"Nothing. Um, Esteban Jarvis…31 in the greater Miami area. How old is the one you're thinking of?" He asked, hoping she wouldn't remember that he'd smelled her hair.

"Mid to late-twenties." She replied, her eyes glued to the screen.

"That narrows it down to 20." He said. Keats gave a painful sigh.

"Look up, uh…Esteban _Lodovico_ Jarvis…" She tried to refine the search.

"Nope. No results match that name, Skeeter." Cooper said. Keats felt as if she'd been tossed into a freezing cold pond.


	19. The Ladykiller

"What is the common thread binding all these women together, besides being killed by the same psychopath…" Keats asked Eric Delko, dismayed at having discovered nothing new in the case for at least half a day. Delko scratched his cheek and shook his head.

"The fact that they're all attractive young women…" He began.

"Are they all rich, do they all take jazzercise together, do they go to the same dry-cleaners?…Give me a link, Delko." Keats began to form a chart, drawing boxes around the victim's names. Six victims thus far.

"Nothing like that. One was a debutante, one worked as a professional stripper, one was a teacher, all different classes of women…and none of them knew each other as far as we know. We questioned the relatives and friends." Delko answered.

"This Ladykiller…maybe all these women were former girlfriends," Keats suggested, "Maybe even former fiancées…" Keats was seriously considering the fact that Esteban might be the Ladykiller. And even if he wasn't, he was definitely a criminal of some sort.

Vilina Shiloh had been victim number six. The only victim unexplored as far as questioning was concerned. She was an orphan that had lived with her foster parents right up until the very end, getting a doctorate in law school while she worked part-time at a bowling alley. Apparently ambitious, attractive, alluring, and taken advantage of.

Keats, getting special permission from Horatio to question Vilina's parents, gingerly trekked up the gravel walkway to their house along with Calleigh Duquesne.

"A few weeks before the…tragedy," Vilina's mother became teary-eyed, "she began dating this man. She became secretive and somewhat distant. She wouldn't talk about him, or let us meet him. She mentioned something about being engaged to him, but we didn't take it seriously. Lina has a quirky sense of humor.

And she was such a sensible girl, that we just assumed she was telling a good joke. And then she threw that…that party…" Vilina's mother broke off her sentence with a sob._ Heh. Some joke._ Mr. Shiloh took up where she left off.

"She threw an engagement party at the bowling alley. We weren't invited, naturally, and we had to read about it in the paper the next day. We confronted her and we argued. She told us we had no right to run her life and she left us. We didn't know where she was going or if we'd ever see her again. After she had been gone for a few days, we found out from the police that she'd been murdered." Shiloh's tone was extremely bitter and heartbroken, and Keats sympathized with him.

"Do you have a copy of the newspaper article that featured her engagement party?" Calleigh asked. Shiloh dug a crinkly clipping from his back pocket and handed it to her.

"Thank you for your time." Keats said as they left. Calleigh examined the clipping from inside the plastic bag and drew information that she remembered from the other victims profiles.

"He gets closer every time. The first one was murdered on a blind date…" Calleigh began. Keats hit the ground running and supplied the rest.

"So he might actually marry the next one. It would certainly give him an edge as far as publicity goes. That's why he's doing it, right?" Keats wondered. Calleigh had since ceased walking and gave Keats a rather determined glance.

"A murder on the wedding night…we need to get the names of every engaged woman in Miami." Calleigh said. Keats nearly fainted as she imagined going through thousands of future brides and interviewing them about their betrotheds.

"But there are so many, Calleigh. I-" Keats began.

"We're professionals, darlin'. If this is what it takes to catch the bad guy, then we're going to do it." She said with a reassuring smile.

Keats dialed her sister's number and rubbed her tired eyes. She hadn't been to sleep in over 24 hours. _As if I could sleep even if I tried!_

"Kit? To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" Sloane asked. Keats yawned and played with her hair.

"Can we meet for dinner? I need to talk to you about a few things." She said. Sloane agreed and Keats went to the hotel right after she left the Lab for dinner with her twin.

Sloane was waiting in a booth in the hotel's bar looking positively aglow with bliss. _Do I really want to risk her happiness? Can I afford to risk her safety even though she'll hate me forever?_ Keats sat down, her eyes kept low.

"Kit, you seem so down. Did you tell Ryan? How did he react to the news?" Sloane sipped her water worriedly. Keats hadn't even thought about it, but now that she let it cross her mind, she noted that Ryan had made no effort to find her or say 'hello' or anything for the entirety of the night before and the next day.

_How ironic. He thought I was avoiding him and now he's avoiding me. Life is so bizarre, I suppose._

"I told him." Keats said, gulping down her soda with a vengeance. She munched on the tortilla chips and salsa in the middle of the table to keep from starving.

"And?" Sloane leaned her chin on her upturned palm. Keats wrinkled her nose.

"I don't really know…but what about you? Are you okay? That dinner was one for the books, Garcia." Keats burbled, trying desperately to change the subject. Sloane gave an indignant squeal.

"Quit calling me Garcia! You know how much I hate it. I hate it worse than you hate the name Juniper!" Sloane shrieked. _At least it worked. She's talking about something else._

"True, I've never been more embarrassed in my entire life. But Daddy means well. And he apologized later. He actually offered to give Esteban a bachelor party. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that yet, but…" Sloane sighed, stirring her straw absent-mindedly.

"Listen, Sloane…about Esteban…do you even know anything about him? I know you love him and all that, but have you met _his_ family? What if he's some psycho?" Keats' voice trembled. Sloane pursed her lips.

"Where did this come from? Keats, Esteban's past is something he's ashamed of. He wants me to forget it. He's trying to start anew…with me. He's wiped his slate clean and even though I'm not crazy about the things he's done, the fact that he wants to atone for it makes me love him even more. I feel so lucky, Kit. Really." Sloane's pristine face contorted into one of sheer sorrow.

"Please, Kit. Be happy for me. I need you to support me. God knows Mom and Dad aren't going to. They practically threw the money in my face and then turned their backs on me." Sloane bit her lip and a single tear rolled down her rosy cheek.

"_You_ know Mom and Dad. Financial backing is emotional backing, too. They've never been good at expressing their feelings. Good thing for Grammy Remington, huh? It's not you, Sloane. They don't know how to support you that way." Keats leaned over the table and hugged Sloane to her heart.

"You know I'd do anything for you, Sloane. I just want you to be safe and taken care of. And if I think Esteban is a threat at any time…despite the fact that you love him…I won't hesitate to take him _out_."


	20. The Alamo Pen

"Thanks for meeting me on such short notice." Keats said, sitting on a stool in the dimly-lit hotel bar. Esteban gave a slight nod and climbed onto the stool beside her.

"I understand. You want to check me out to see if I'm good enough for Sloane. I can respect that." Esteban said in flawless English with only the tiniest trace of an accent.

"Yes, I do. I'm afraid Sloane has entered into this engagement with her eyes closed and I intend to keep her from falling over the edge." Keats topped off her 2nd can of ginger ale and signaled to the bartender, asking for another.

"So here's what I want to know, Esteban. First of all, I'd like you to tell me your intentions with my sister. Secondly, I'd like to know why you're not a registered American citizen. And that's just for starters." Keats surmised his reaction. Esteban kept his cool, however, and gave a confident smile.

"That's because the U.S. Government doesn't know I'm here. To them, I'm just a visitor. A tourist. I'm from Santa Ana, El Salvador, though, not Mexico. Your step-brother is quite the narrow-minded fool." Esteban took a drink from his Corona Light and gritted his teeth.

"You're marrying my sister for a green card? You asshole!" Keats shouted, her mouth full of pretzels. Esteban chuckled and spun around in his stool to face her.

"I don't want permanent citizenship in this God-forsaken country! I plan to take Sloane back to Santa Ana with me." He said, running a palm over his slicked back hair.

"She never told me that!" Keats cried, suddenly missing her sister even though she hadn't even left.

"I'm not surprised. She told me you'd overreact and try to stop her. Sloane is a grown woman. She knows what she wants. No one is going to stop her, Keats, not even _you_." Esteban drank from his Corona and tossed a few dollars on the table.

"That should cover the cost of your sodas…Now if that is all, Ms. Remington, I should like to go back to my room." The bartender produced a receipt and Esteban took out an interesting pen, scrawling his name down with a flick of the wrist.

"That's a lovely pen, Esteban." Keats mentioned, trying not to let on that she was extremely interested. Esteban frowned and shoved it back in his jacket pocket.

"It's a commemorative pen of the Alamo, depicting the battle in San Antonio led by General Antonio Lopez de-"

"Santa Anna…yes…that's fascinating." Keats interjected. Esteban made a curt nod and strode out of the bar. _He is soooo hiding something._

Instead of going back to her apartment, Keats headed straight to the Lab. It was nearly 4 a.m. on a heated Monday morning, and Keats hoped she would be the only one there.

After researching and printing out scaled photos of the particular pen that Esteban had used in the bar, Keats analyzed and compared the pictures with those of the perforations in Lina's chest.

_The cap matches the unique welts in Lina's upper torso. Hypothetically, the pen is the exact weapon that the killer uses for each of his victims. Or should I say, the exact weapon that _Esteban_ uses._

Keats hacked away into her laptop, connecting the newfound evidence with precision. She barely noticed a warm hand on her shoulder and jumped out of her chair when the hand tightened its grip.

"Gah…you _scared_ me, you jerk!" Keats said, facing her quasi-boyfriend. Ryan crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.

"I waited outside your door for two hours, you never showed…Why are you working yourself to death, Keats?" Ryan ran his thumb along the faintly dark skin under her eyes.

"When you're about to break a case wide open, you don't stop for trivial things such as sleep!" Keats murmured. Her eyes began to water and she could feel her body shutting down from exhaustion.

"Anyway, why should you _care_? You made it pretty clear the other day that you couldn't handle what I told you. All day long yesterday I waited for you to come to me and tell me you were okay, and that I would be okay because you'd be there for me. I needed you to do that so badly…" Keats rubbed her nose to shake off the tickly feeling that accompanied hot tears.

"I didn't know what to do…I'm sorry, but I didn't know what you wanted from me. I was nervous, and…scared, I guess. As much as I hate to admit it, I was really scared. Relationships aren't my forte, and I thought they were pretty small-time stuff. But _this_…this is a big damn deal. The two of us…_we're_ a big deal."

Keats stayed silent and tried to comprehend what he was saying.

"Keats, I don't get serious about people that much… I thought about us and what it would be like if we had a baby, and honestly, I'm not ready to be a father. But what I feel for you could make me ready…" Ryan gave an uncomfortable sigh.

Out of habit, Keats bit her lip, willing herself not to turn into a little crybaby. Ryan tugged her lower lip from under her teeth with his thumb.

"Cry if you want to, dopey, just don't bite that lip. It makes it really hard to kiss you that way." Ryan said, catching her mouth with his own.

A few moments later, Keats broke away from him and turned her attentions back to Esteban and Sloane.

"Oh God…my sister's in trouble." She whispered.


	21. A Little Sloane Switching

"Keats, just because the pen matches the chest wounds on the victim doesn't mean that Esteban is the murderer. Hundreds of pens were issued in that special design. The only thing we can do is get a listing of everyone who owns one." Ryan said, after Keats had explained the entire ordeal.

"But if Esteban is the Ladykiller, then it'll be too late for Sloane…wait a second…" Keats stopped abruptly, her expression slowly changing. Ryan remembered the face because she wore it so well and so frequently.

"What? Keats, what are you scheming?" He asked, hiding a smile.

"Well, if I can distract Sloane somehow, then I can pretend to be _her_ long enough to find out if Esteban is the murderer!" Keats exclaimed, her excitement rising.

"C'mon, Keats, Esteban wouldn't believe the switch for a second. For one thing your hair is undeniably red. You told me hers had been dyed blond."

"Wigs can be little miracles in themselves if you're lucky enough to have a good one put on the right way." Keats argued. Ryan shook his head.

"The personality, the mannerisms, the tone of voice…are you telling me that you can fake all that?" He asked skeptically. Keats nodded proudly.

"My sister and I use to play that game all the time with Mom and Dad. We had _everyone_ fooled. Trust me." _But how do I get Sloane out of harm's way?_

"A wedding shower? Keats, you didn't have to do that." Sloane gasped at the suddenness of it all. Keats shrugged and guided her into the Corsica, taking her to the Lab for the impromptu shower.

"That's what Maid-of-Honors are for, right?" She replied sunnily.

She walked into the Miami Dade Police Department feeling a bit remorseful for lying to her sister, even though she had the best of intentions. Sloane followed a few steps behind, taking in her surroundings.

"What an odd place for a party…" She murmured to herself. Keats took her into the Lab, wherein she found Ryan, Calleigh, and Eric examining her progress from the previous night.

"Sloane, these are my superiors slash colleagues: Calleigh Duquesne, Eric Delko, and Ryan Wolfe." Sloane shook hands with everyone, smiling widely.

"Guys, this is my sister Sloane." Keats placed her arm around Sloane, putting her in a loose choke-hold. Sloane's eyes began to roam from Ryan to Delko, then back to Ryan again. She knew that one of them was her twin's _lover_. She giggled at the thought of Keats doing normal girlish things like…falling in _love_.

"Which one of you is my baby sister's mentor?" Sloane asked, the last bit of the question muffled by her sister's hand. Keats' look of pure venom told Sloane to shut up.

"I'm her mentor." Ryan said, vaguely confused by their response.

"Not bad…" Sloane let her eyes travel up and down the length of Ryan Wolfe until Keats was as red as a tomato.

"Sloane…um, Calleigh is going to show you where the party is, and I'll be there a little later. I forgot the pink champagne!" Keats said with a modest chuckle. Calleigh gave Delko a knowing look and led Sloane to one of the empty interrogation rooms.

"I really don't think you should do this…" Ryan said, as soon as they were alone. Keats gave him a frown that perfectly characterized her stubbornness.

"If Esteban is really the ladykiller, then this is the best opportunity we have to prove it. If I get in trouble, I'll give you a ring…" She said, grabbing a bag with the contents of her disguise.

"Listen, Keats, you're not going anywhere near Esteban without me." Ryan replied edgily. Keats felt a sudden knot in her stomach and she wondered what kind of life she had maintained without Ryan Wolfe.

"This is a monumental risk you're taking, June. For a multitude of reasons. But I'm trusting you because you've been right so far. Keep the streak going…and another thing, ask for help if you need it. Don't be a hero." Horatio told her before she left. Ryan drove her to the hotel in his silver hummer.

"I want a hummer…" Keats said mournfully.

"You'll get one soon enough, I guess." He said, parking the hummer near the hotel entrance. They headed toward the nearest restroom so that Keats' could pull off her 'amazing transformation', as Ryan put it.

"Sometimes I wonder how my sister can stand wearing high heels and tiny dresses all the time." Keats mumbled as Ryan pulled the zipper on her gown. She turned to look at him, feeling very awkward in clothes that definitely didn't suit her.

Ryan's roving gaze brought a touch of crimson to her cheeks, so she began tugging at the hem self-consciously. She began tying her hair back and fit the wig to her head, fluffing it out in most of the right places.

"Where did you find that thing? It looks incredibly authentic." Ryan felt around and adjusted the wig, seemingly more astonished with every passing second. Keats wrestled with the strap-on heels and stood upright, balancing herself on the bathroom sink.

"She's definitely a masochist…why would people subject themselves to the torture of walking on a toothpick?" Keats muttered, flailing her arms in an effort to keep her poise.

"Ah…you know, I might just go barefoot and pretend I'm trying to seduce him." She said as she hopped out of the shoes. Ryan's lips tightened.

"Don't make this any more complex than it has to be." He said grimly.

Keats fooled one of the maids into letting her into Sloane's room and she sat on the bed wondering how long she'd have to wait for Esteban. The plan was for Keats to lure him to the pool. Ryan would be there sitting at a table with his gun close by in case something hazardous were to take place.

And then Keats would proceed to ask him strategic questions, possibly saving a glass he had used for lab analysis, or something of the like. It was a good plan in theory, but Keats worried that the follow-through would be less than lucrative.

She heard a knock at the door and leapt in fright. She shook her head dizzily and made herself answer the door in true Sloane fashion.

"Who's there?" Keats asked in a sing-song voice. A low laugh could be heard from the other side.

"It's me, querida…" Esteban waltzed through the door and took her in his arms, whirling her around until she felt rather lightheaded.

"Mmm, I missed you! I've been waiting for you so we could go take a swim in the pool together." Keats said, nuzzling into him.

"Sure. Anything for you." Esteban waited as she grabbed her bags and the two of them walked hand in hand toward the hotel's outdoor pool.

Keats shed her dress warily, trying to muster up some false bravado. _Buck up, Keats. Sloane has no qualms about wearing a bikini in public._

She sat by the edge of the pool and broke the surface of the water with her toe. She felt Esteban's eyes on her and she worried that perhaps her acting was not good enough. But when he began rubbing her down rather sensually with sunscreen, she felt satisfied that the ruse was working.

"Baby, I want to send a few presents up to your room. Some of them are from family…the guy who's sending it up needs a key. Can I borrow one to give to him?" She gently bit down on his earlobe to deflect from the obviousness of her question_. Sloane uses this technique to get her way all the time…I guess she's the typical femme fatale._

Esteban wordlessly shoved the keycard in her hand, ripping his shirt off and plunging into the pool. Keats recoiled from the splash and Ryan watched her as she slipped by, tossing the keycard on the table. Room 237 was written on it in black permanent marker.

"Check out his room." She whispered. Ryan tapped the card a few times against the tabletop, reluctant to leave Keats unsupervised. Eventually and with great effort, he forced himself to investigate Esteban's hotel room.

Keats returned to the edge of the pool just as Esteban was climbing out of the pool. He leaned down and Keats wondered what he was doing. He hooked his arms under her knees and lifted her effortlessly, his muscles gleaming in the sunlight.

"It's your turn…" Esteban whispered as he dropped her into the pool. Keats plummeted straight to the bottom, inhaling water as she went.


	22. Pool Fun

Esteban took a deep breath and dove in after her, latching onto her arms and holding her down beneath the surface. Keats struggled, kicking her legs furiously against him.

_I can't breathe…but I refuse to black out! Esteban will NOT get the better of me!!!_

Keats brought her knee sharply into his groin. The water had made her movement slower than she would have liked, but it got the job done. Esteban released her and she flew to the surface. She gripped the edge if the pool, pulling herself onto the concrete and gasping for breath. In time, her breathing slowed and she wondered what plan of action to take.

Keats felt little drops of water land on her thigh and before she could make an educated decision, Esteban seized her wrist, yanking her to his chest.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice?" He said with spite. He ripped her wig off and threw it on the ground. Keats cowered, but soon remembered that she was indeed a professional, just like Calleigh said.

"I suppose I did. And I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for you blasted, meddling kids…" Keats said, harking back on the glory days of Scooby Doo. She blinked a few times, as she hadn't exactly prepared anything relevant to say. Esteban stared at her as though questioning her sanity.

"Whatever that means…listen, you nosy little bitch. I AM going to marry your sister and there's nothing you can do about it save for congratulating me on my upcoming nuptials."

"I won't let my sister marry a murderer, Esteban. You may think you have me cornered, but I refuse to let you win." She said, wincing as his nails dug deep into her arm.

"Murderer? Don't be a fool. If I were going to murder anyone, it would be _you_." Esteban said, hauling her off to the sauna and bathhouse.

She tried to wrestle away from him, but was chagrined to find that he was much too strong for her. He shoved her into a steam room, locking the door behind him as he left. He fiddled around with the temperature knobs until it had reached over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. He gave a self-satisfied smile and returned to the pool.

Keats began sweating immediately, cursing herself for being so stupid as to not run away when she'd had the chance. She surveyed her surroundings, taking into account the absence of windows and everything else but tile.

She wondered whether anyone would hear her if she screamed. She decided to give it a try anyway.

Ryan Wolfe had discovered an international passport that read _Christos Veradis _instead of _Esteban Jarvis_. He snapped a quick picture and returned it to its former spot. He also recovered the Alamo pen and took a few prints from it, photographing it from every angle. When satisfied that he had seen all he came to see, he made his way back down to the poolside.

He scoured the sea of faces for Keats and Esteban. Eventually he located Esteban, but Keats was definitely not with him. Esteban gave Ryan a friendly wave and shrugged his shoulders mockingly. He felt a jolt of terror and approached Esteban with extreme fury.

"Where the hell is she?" Ryan shouted, his hand tightening around his gun. Esteban, or Christos, merely grinned and fanned himself with his hand.

"Probably melting in this heat." He said with a strangled laugh. Ryan whipped his gun out, aiming straight for Esteban's chest.

"Get hotel security." He yelled to one of the employees. The men were captured in a heated silence. Ryan's gaze never faltered.

"I'm going to ask you again. Where is she?" Ryan said, his imagination running wild. He thought back on all the young female victims he'd come across in the last 48 hours. Would Keats be the next to join? Ryan shook his head, pushing the thoughts out of his mind.

"I'll give you a hint…" Esteban said in a soft, dangerous tone.

Keats wiped her brows, leaning back against the tile wall. She struggled to keep herself alert, but was somehow slowly succumbing to a thick veil of sleep. She had stopped trying to call for help long ago, and now she resigned herself to wait until someone noticed the locked room.

_The air is so stuffy…I can't think…it's…so hot…the steam…can't…it hurts…_

Keats slumped over, closing her eyes and feeling overwhelmingly drowsy.

A draft of cool air pierced through the dense fog and Keats felt herself being carried out of the steam room. She was laid on a sofa in the bathhouse entrance and made to drink from a bottle of cold water. She opened her eyes lazily.

She sputtered and the water spilled across her chin.

"Ah…my head feels like it's in a vice." Keats groaned painfully. Ryan held a damp towel to her face, encouraging her to drink the water.

"We've got Esteban in our custody. You were right about him, Keats…as usual. It's kind of uncanny the way you just know things. I wish I had your secret." He said. Keats yawned and closed her eyes again.

"Wake up, Keats. Stay with me, here." Ryan rolled her face back and forth between his hands.

"You're making me dizzy, Wolfe." Keats mumbled.

"You're calling me Wolfe again. Is that 'cause I rescued you?" He asked.

"Hell no. I would have been found anyway…" Keats said, her senses beginning to recharge. And among those, her sense of humor.

"That's not what you said that last time I saved you." Ryan cupped her cheek with his palm. Keats gave a small 'pfft' sound between her teeth.

"I was only a girl then. Now I'm a mature old lady." She replied with a slight slur in her voice. Ryan gave an unexpected laugh and ruffled her hair.

"But I was wrong about him. He's _not_ the Ladykiller…" Keats said, her voice even and strong.


	23. Friends and Enemies

Sloane rushed to her sister's side, hugging her until she was gasping for breath.

"Don't do that to me, Kit. I was so worried. And why didn't you tell me I was marrying a criminal?" Sloane asked in a resentful tone. Keats rolled her eyes.

"I did. How quickly we forget, Garcia." She replied. Sloane's face contorted and she carried the expression of someone who's just swallowed a lemon. _Not a pretty look, sis._

Horatio, Eric, and Ryan stood on the opposite side of the interrogation room while Calleigh remained in the room with Christos, recording his confession.

"Christos Veradis. He's a copycat. And apparently he was _trying_ to get caught." Horatio commented, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"How do we determine whether his confession is a lie if we don't have enough evidence to prove otherwise?" Eric asked. Horatio cracked a half-smile.

"Simple, Eric. We get our evidence." He said with such simplicity. It was back to the drawing board and the crime scene of the latest victim was retraced and all the evidence thereto was re-examined with careful tenacity.

Keats stood near Valera, making sure Natalia was nowhere in sight, and held her breath as she waited apprehensively for Valera to finish the results. Valera worked dexterously, but even that was not quick enough for a girl who wanted to know _fast_.

"Uh, Keats…it's inconclusive. I need another sample of blood." She said after a time. Keats gave a groan and covered her face with her hands.

"Arrgghhh…this is killing me here." She said as she poked her finger with the tiny sterilized needle. She let Valera daub up a bit of blood with the point of a Q-tip and watched her as she repeated the test…yet again.

"While we wait, you might as well 'fess up. You're with Ryan, aren't you?" She asked, apparently more of a gossip than Keats had imagined her to be. Keats flushed, not knowing exactly how it would look if she admitted that she was seeing a colleague…her _mentor_…and not wanting to lie to Valera, who had been nothing but nice to her.

"Promise not to say anything?" Keats asked hopefully. Valera nodded.

"Sort of. We've never actually set down any terms nor have we attempted to define exactly what we're doing…I would say yes, but even _I_ don't know what's going on." Keats tried to explain. Valera nodded again, puzzled but satisfied with the response.

"Does he know you're down here?" Maxine Valera was quite the inquisitive soul. Keats shook her head, trying to suppress a wave of guilt.

"I knew he would want to come with me and I didn't want people to get the wrong idea. I don't want him to be under scrutiny just because of me." She said. Valera tilted her head and gave an odd smile.

"No offense, because I know I wasn't there or anything, but I don't think it was just you…" The implications of her statement made Keats turn red.

"He was busy anyway. I didn't want to interfere." Keats leaned her head back against the wall and sighed heavily.

"You know, I think you and Natalia could be good friends if you just tried. Your personalities seem like they would mesh well together." Valera said, obviously trying to fill up the impatient silence.

"Oh, give me a break. Natalia's had it in for me from day one. I think she still has a thing for Ryan." Keats said, letting herself be distracted by the topic of her sort-of arch-nemesis.

"Not really. She went out with him like once, but I think that was just to spite Eric. She's all about Eric." Valera said, closing her mouth with a frown.

"That's the difference between you and Cooper. He has absolutely no regrets about exposing other people's secrets. You seem to beat yourself up about it quite often." Keats grinned at her, not realizing how much she had craved a friend since moving to Miami.

"It's not like I do it on purpose. It just comes out, you know?" Valera said. Suddenly she turned to look at the blood test and gave a tiny smile. Keats bit her lip.

"Congratulations. You're _not_ pregnant." She said in a low voice. Keats embraced her excitedly and jumped up and down with glee. _Thank Heaven above and whoever else! This is the best news I've had in forever._

"I feel like celebrating. Woo hoo!" She said, doing what could be considered as dancing if the term were used quite broadly.

"You can do field work again!" Valera cried. It was so easy to share the happiness of a friend.

Keats found Ryan doing more tests on the blood-soaked bikini, the splices of hair, and the pieces of gravel from under the victim's feet. There wasn't much to go on, but it was all they had.

"Hey, stranger. H is looking for you." Ryan said, glancing up from his work. Keats dared to put her arms around him and smiled.

"You don't have to be ready. And I appreciate your saying you could." She said, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Ryan gave a relieved sigh and pulled her closer, hugging her tightly.

"I didn't want to share you anyway." He mumbled, kissing her with rough tenderness. Keats gasped, wondering whether it was a good idea to be so brazenly open about their relationship.

She noticed the sound of footsteps behind her and before she could turn around, she heard a voice that she had come to dread.

"Well. So _this_ is the guy that almost knocked you up… I'm disappointed, Ryan. You aren't usually so careless." Natalia Boa Vista strode into the room in red high heels, standing toe to toe with Keats Remington and absolutely loving it.

Ryan had come to regret ever having harbored a crush on Natalia. Something in the way she behaved as of late. The change happened almost overnight, it seemed. And it started around the time that Keats Juniper Remington came to work for the Crime Lab at Miami Dade P.D.

"Natalia, can I talk to you in private?" Keats asked in a calm, sweet voice. Natalia's gaze remained intense, but she followed Keats out of the room compliantly. They went all the way to the women's restroom, standing in silence in front of the mirrors.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Keats asked, emotion filling her voice. She hadn't admitted it, even to herself, but Natalia's brusque attitude of her was upsetting.

"Don't be ridiculous. I don't hate you, K.J." Natalia said unkindly. Keats willed herself not to cry. As many confrontations as she'd had to handle in police training could not have prepared her for a personal skirmish with Natalia Boa Constrictor.

"What is it about me that you can't stand?" She asked. Natalia glared at her as though the reason were quite obvious.

"You walked through that door and people are rolling all over themselves to please you. It's sickening. I know it's petty to be so bitter, but dammit I am! Not two days after you do your internship and you're already at my level. I had to work my ass off to get past cold cases. You don't even realize how easy you have it!

Horatio adores you and basically so does everyone else at the Lab. It makes me so angry to think you take it all for granted. You're already a success and you're ready to throw it all away because Ryan wants to get into your pants. How stupid can you be?" Natalia's voice had long since softened, replaced by something more despondent.

Keats had no idea what to say. Natalia was pretty accurate on most accounts. She was wrong about Ryan, of course. But nevertheless, Natalia had every right to be this way.

"Ryan is more than a quick lay. He's not what you think. Ryan…loves me." She said. And once she had said it, she wondered if it were true. _It has to be true._

"Loves you? Honey, he'll tell a girl anything if she'll get into bed with him." Natalia pursed her lips and glanced at her reflection in the mirror.

"No. He loves me." But even having said the words, she began to second guess their truth. She knew she must have sounded naïve and stupid to someone like Natalia, but people in love were usually criticized because of envy.

"Has he even said 'I love you'?" Natalia wondered, fixing her makeup in the mirror and fluffing out her hair. Keats was struck dumb. She tried to recall a certain point in time where Ryan professed his love. She could not remember such a time. _No…he hasn't._

Natalia noted that Keats hadn't answered her question. Her face had turned ashen and she seemed to be having an inner struggle.

"I'll take that as a 'no'. To be honest, one of the reasons why Eric and I broke up was a pregnancy scare. My advice to you would be to break it off before you get your heart trampled on. He's bound to dump you soon enough, anyway. Why not do it first?"

Natalia gave herself one last look in the mirror and trotted off, leaving the bathroom door swinging. Keats fell to her knees and cried.


	24. New Arrangements

To DarkKyubi: Natalia isn't THAT bad, but haven't we all said things that we didn't mean at one time because we were angry with someone? (At least I have on many, many, many occasions) Worry not, she'll get her chance at redemption.

_She's so mean…but maybe she's right. Ryan probably isn't in love. We haven't even known each other that long. Of course he isn't. And why would he be in love with someone like me? A dumb college kid with weird habits and fetishes. If he really knew me well he wouldn't be so thrilled…Why did I let myself get fooled again?_

Keats sat against the bathroom wall, remembering the only other man she had ever loved in her life. He had promised her the moon and the stars, making her believe that they were stronger than fate. That they were meant to be.

She tried to believe it and once she finally did, once she was so deeply, head-over-heels in love with him…he avoided her. And sent a mutual friend to give her a 'Dear John' letter. It was the blackest day of her life. It had only been a year ago, but it might as well have been the day before. The pain was as fresh as it had ever been.

_Even though the cases are completely different…the end results are bound to be the same. As much as I would hate to end it, I think I have to. I couldn't bear it if Ryan did the same thing to me as Morgan did a year ago. I think I would die._

Natalia sat across from Eric Delko, feeling extremely guilty. During the few months that Keats had been working at Miami Dade, she had kept an immense grudge against her. But as soon as she had opened up and let out her feelings, they weren't nearly as strong. She began to think that she had been a little too harsh. 

"What's wrong?" Eric asked. Natalia gave a modest shrug and tried to shake off an awful feeling.

Eric's cell rang and he answered it apologetically, flashing Natalia a brilliant smile.

"What do you mean? Is he ok?...Sure, I'll be right over." He hung up and sighed, more than a bit bewildered.

"Did something happen?" Natalia asked.

"Cooper went drinking with Ryan. He said that Ryan drank too much and was thrown out of the bar. I'm going to check up on him. We can do this later, right?" Eric said with a hopeful smile. Natalia nodded.

"Wait, Eric. I…" Natalia began. She cut herself off, remembering that Ryan's drinking did not necessarily have to do with what she said to Keats.

"Nothing. I'll call you later." She said. She took a few drinks of wine as he left, knowing that Ryan's problem had everything to with what she'd said to Keats.

Ryan woke up all alone in his bed. Keats had only stayed over a few nights, but already he missed having her warm body beside him. He could still hear her voice. He could still smell her perfume. She had said that things weren't working between them.

It was obvious that Natalia had said something, but she insisted that it was her own decision. She even threw in the fact that she was planning on breaking up with him the second she found out she wasn't pregnant.

And so he had gone drinking. Not wanting to drink alone, he took Cooper with him out of desperation. He had tossed back several too many and started a fight with another guy. He couldn't logically explain his actions. But there was one thing he did know: it was all tied up in Keats.

Eric took Ryan off Cooper's hands, driving him to his apartment. Eric decided to put him up for the night because he didn't trust Ryan to be by himself. Ryan had never acted this way before, and it scared Eric to death.

"Talk to me, Wolfe. What the hell got into you back there?" Delko asked. The hummer was filled with nothing but silence. Ryan shook his head, trying to think coherently.

"She broke up with me. I don't know what I did." Ryan's voice sounded strained.

"Who? You were going out with someone?" Delko asked. Eric might have been the only person at the Lab who wasn't aware of his relationship with Keats.

"Keats. Just when I thought, 'this is the _real_ thing', she goes and breaks it off."

They pulled into the parking dock of his apartment and Eric was confused to find Natalia waiting at his doorstep.

"Natalia, are you all right?" Eric asked, one of Ryan's arms slung over his shoulder. He unlocked the door to his apartment and laid Ryan down on his couch, covering him with a blanket as he passed out.

"It's my fault. The whole thing. I told Keats to end it. It's all me." Natalia said, her voice cracking. Eric shook his head, utterly confused by the entire situation.

"Okay…slow down and start from the beginning…"

"Kit…oh, poor baby." Sloane held her sister comfortingly and made her sit on her bed. Keats glanced at Sloane's wedding dress, wondering why she hadn't taken it back. Keats wiped away her tears, pointing at the dress.

"I thought you were going to return it today." She said, her sobs subsiding. Sloane gave a sheepish smile and sat down beside Keats, grabbing hold of her hands.

"Well…I'm still getting married." She said. Keats' jaw dropped.

"But he's in police custody-"

"Not him, you goose. The assistant manager of this very hotel." Sloane sighed and got a far-off look in her eyes.

"Good thing you didn't pass out personal invitations. The guests won't know the groom from Adam." Keats said, falling backward on the bed. Sloane ignored the comment and picked at a few imaginary places on the dress.

"I take it I still have to march down that aisle like a loser…" Keats blurted out, burying her head under the pillow.

"Well…we _were_ going to elope. Actually I just wanted to get married to him by the beach with you and Grammy Remington and Aunt Roe and the boys. But they aren't going to be here for another few days. Maybe we can do it then. I really don't care if Mom or Dad are there. They never cared much for us anyway, you know."

"That's for damn sure." Keats replied bitterly.

"I don't think either of them noticed the sudden change in my fiancée." Sloane remarked with amusement. Keats laughed sadly.

It was true after all. Grammy and Aunt Roe had basically raised them. They were the ones that Sloane wanted at her wedding. To hell with everyone else.

"Why did you break up with Ryan?" She asked suddenly, pulling the pillow off Keats' face. Keats immediately started to cry.

"I don't want to risk being wrong about him. If things had continued the way they were going…he would have ended it. And I don't want to be hurt like that again." Keats felt ashamed for being so cowardly. Ryan hadn't given any indication that he was like Morgan…

"Kit," Sloane paused and gave a sigh, "You can't close the proverbial door on potential love just because you're scared. At least be honest about your feelings and maybe he can help you through them…"

_"…I was nervous and…scared, I guess. As much as I hate to admit it, I was really scared…"_ Keats could hear Ryan's voice echoing in her ear. It was almost brutal to remember such a thing after the damage had been done.

"I can't change it, now…I blew it." Keats said, biting her lip. But even a core habit of hers had somehow wrapped itself in the memory of Ryan. She sniffed and let her sister envelop her in a warm embrace.

"If he really loves you, he'll forgive you." Sloane murmured as she rocked her back and forth in her arms. Keats nodded slowly, rubbing her eyes and clutching at her sister like a small child.

"Natalia, why would you do that?" Eric asked her, almost in disbelief. Natalia could feel a few tears gather at the corners of her eyes.

"I…I don't know…I was angry…I didn't mean to hurt her. I got carried away." She exclaimed. She glanced over at Ryan, sleeping fitfully on the couch as though he was having a nightmare. Perhaps he wasn't even asleep. Reality was nightmare enough.

"Natalia…you've gotta make this right." Eric said, rubbing his forehead.

"How?" Natalia couldn't even fathom a way to make amends with the current state of affairs. Neither Keats nor Ryan would speak to her again.

"I don't know. But this is your mess and you've got to clean it up."

Some point in between Natalia's last fleeting glance of Ryan on the couch and when she looked up again to see if he was awake, he had indeed escaped and managed to walk to his apartment five blocks away. His head was fuzzy, but his functions were stable. He made it to his place without any major injuries and he took to his bed as soon as he had made it back.

And there he was, lying in his bed. Alone. Wishing he could make love to Keats, or at the very least hold her close to him. He wondered what he could say that would make her change her mind. Her eyes told him she was in love even though her words were differing.

Love. He laughed at himself when he realized that he was actually falling in love with Keats. But what good was it to be in love when there was no relationship and no future? Ryan scowled and reminded himself that he wasn't the type of guy to go for all that mushy love stuff.

He came to work with a bitch of a headache and put on his lab coat, picking up where he left off the day before. Not long after he became immersed in his work, Horatio put a calm hand on his shoulder.

"Agent Wolfe, I think you should be aware of a few new arrangements in progress." He said, leaning on the table with his arms folded neatly across his chest.

"New arrangements?" Ryan gazed up at him in perplexity.

"Remington transferred to another P.D. She put in a request and they complied instantaneously." Horatio paused, letting the news sink in. Ryan could scarcely breathe.

"Where did she go?" He asked, his chest suddenly tight. It was an eerie, uncomfortable feeling.

"A colleague of mine offered to take her under his wing. Dr. Grissom from the Crime Lab at the Las Vegas Police Department has agreed to finish her training."


	25. Welcome to Las Vegas

Keats bit her lip and waited in line at the baggage claim. She _hated_ flying all by herself. It seemed to reinforce the fact that she was still just a little girl in a big world that seemed to be getting bigger by the minute.

"We'll miss ya, kiddo." Harvey said, putting her in a half-nelson choke hold. Keats bent her knees and twisted out of his grip.

"Sure, Harv. Do me a favor, make sure Glenn doesn't start a war with Dad while I'm gone." She hugged him, doing her level best not to cry. _Tomboy Keats does NOT cry in front of her brothers._

"Send me a hooker, Kit. Or at least gamble for me while you're there." Miles grinned. He grabbed her hand and they did their secret handshake from their favorite movie "Animal House." He ended the shake by pulling her close and patting her back several times.

"My turn, I guess…Let me know if anybody gives you shit in Vegas. I'll swing by and pummel 'em for you." Glenn cleared his throat and embraced her awkwardly. Glenn had never been one for goodbyes, but his effort truly touched Keats. The tears she had been holding back began to fall freely down her cheeks.

"Don't cry, Keats…you'll make me cry too!" Sloane whispered. Harvey and Miles rolled their eyes and began imitating them good-naturedly.

Keats checked her baggage and was about to go through the security point. Or as Aunt Roe called it, 'the point of farewell.' She looked around as though expecting something she knew would never happen. Ryan didn't even know she was leaving.

_I left without saying goodbye to anyone except Horatio. I feel like such a rat. I'm sneaking away like some criminal. I'm running away…Why? Why am I running?_

After saying goodbye one last time, she promised she'd be back in a week for the wedding. With that, she picked up her bags and went through the security check.

The taxi pulled up in front of Miami International Airport and Ryan threw open the door, racing to get to the baggage claim before she checked in.

He stood in front of the wall of flight schedules, scouring the board for Las Vegas. There was only one, he noticed. And it had taken off nearly fifteen minutes ago.

"Damn." He muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Calleigh Duquesne observed the body of the young woman floating in the bathtub. The Ladykiller was still at large and the loss of their newest member had been severely detrimental.

"Damn good waste of the Honeymoon Suite, huh?" Detective Tripp said as he watched a few of his own gently lift the body onto a stretcher. They placed her in a long, black bag and zipped her up without fanfare.

"Another girl and we are nowhere close to a conviction." Calleigh said.

"We may have to put this case on the backburner." Tripp muttered reluctantly.

"Or…we can double our efforts." Horatio said, slipping on his sunglasses as they exited the premises.

"How, Caine? I thought things were going full speed ahead already." Tripp asked belligerently. No one wanted to give up on a case, but there had to be a line drawn somewhere.

"I'll give you another week, Horatio. But after that we've got to shut it down." Tripp said after a time. Calleigh nodded, trying to accept the implications of failure. The team at Miami Dade rarely let a case go by unsolved.

Ryan sat gazing into his microscope, examining every cell of fabric from the exhausted bikini that had seen every scientific test known to man. He sighed and felt someone standing behind him.

"Natalia? What are you doing here?" He asked, ill-enthused at the sight of her.

"Ryan…I have a confession to make. Keats left because of me." She took a deep breath, trying to get it all out before she lost her nerve.

"What did you say to her?" Ryan stood and edged closer to Natalia.

"I…I told her it wasn't a good idea to see anyone at work…I said that she was throwing away her career on you when all you wanted was…" Natalia stopped, the ruthless echo of her own words leaving her cold.

"When all I wanted was what?" Ryan asked angrily. Instead of waiting for an answer, however, he walked past her and headed toward the computer lab.

"Cooper…book me a flight to Las Vegas. I'm taking a few days off work." He said, standing behind him. He was impatient to get moving and Cooper noted this with uneasiness. He printed out a flight itinerary and handed it to Wolfe soundlessly.

Keats gazed out of her window and bid a fond farewell to the bright Miami sunshine. _I should have at least made a formal announcement to my colleagues. It would have been more professional of me, and…nicer. We were more than colleagues. We were friends. How will I ever be able to live with myself after what I did?_

"Agent Remington?" A handsome salt-and-pepper haired gentleman emerged from the crowd at the gate and motioned to her. Keats gave a friendly smile and waltzed up to him excitedly.

"Dr. Grissom?" She asked hopefully. The man known as Gil Grissom nodded and shook her hand graciously.

"Gilbert Grissom, L.V.P.D. Wonderful to meet you, Ms. Remington. We'll take a tour of the Lab first, then we'll take you to the hotel where you'll be staying until we can make other, more permanent arrangements. Welcome to Las Vegas." He said, taking her suitcase. She carried her two totebags and followed him outside, suddenly assaulted by the dry heat.

Miami had been swelteringly hot, but Vegas was an arid jungle. She climbed into his SUV and they drove past miles of sand, palm trees, and wedding chapels.

"There are palm trees here? Just like in Florida?" Keats asked. She was already quite homesick and any semblance of her past life was greatly appreciated.

"Yep. Just like in Florida. You know, Caine bragged about you when he gave me the details of this arrangement. I wasn't sure I wanted to take on an undergrad. But he said you were well worth it and that I'd be impressed." Grissom said, giving Keats sideways glances.

"Oh, I'm not as good as all that…" Keats replied modestly. Grissom smiled.

"We could go through all the formalities like I told you we would…_or_ we could go straight to work on our most recent case. Which would you rather do, Remington?" Grissom asked. Keats knew immediately that she liked Dr. Grissom.

"I'd rather get to work, if you don't mind." Keats said. Grissom was taken with her gentle charm and was well aware that she had the makings of a pro.

It was the most brutal crime scene Keats had ever witnessed. The victim was hanging from a tiny wooden cage in his basement, his blood spilling out on all sides. Interestingly enough, there was only a tiny amount of blood on the basement floor.

Keats tried to hold her breath as she assisted Grissom and CSI Catherine Willows in processing the scene. The smell was nauseating and the view was even worse.

"Upside down crosses…burnt appendages…the slightest hint of a pentagram directly below the cage…looks like a satanic ritual." Willows said, shining her flashlight on the ashes of what appeared to be human fingers. Keats turned away and suppressed the urge to vomit.

The body was turned over to the coroner and on immediate inspection, the corpse was said to be completely devoid of blood.

"I don't think we're dealing with Satanists, here." Grissom said after initial feedback from the Dr. Robbins.

"Vampires." Keats murmured with a shudder. It was a tale she was quite familiar with. Her step-sister, Simone, had told her the story when she was young enough to be frightened by it.

Elizabeth Bathory had been searching for a serum that would reverse the look of aging. High and low she searched. Nothing seemed to work. Until one day when she slapped one of her maids and caused her poor nose to bleed. The blood fell on her hand and she swore that where the blood had fallen, newer, prettier skin had emerged.

She began drinking and bathing in the blood of young girls in an effort to keep herself looking young. Keats had listened attentively, especially when Simone had warned her that her followers were still around in present day. Keats hadn't realized she was dead serious.

Within a few hours of settling in with the team at Las Vegas P.D. Keats noticed a definite change in the atmosphere from that of Miami Dade. There was something more sinister in the air. It had nothing to do with the people, but more to do with the cases.

Keats desperately missed the cases back in Miami. Something about the way this one was forming made her think she didn't belong. Things didn't seem quite so sick and twisted back in Miami.

After looking over several blown up photographs of the crime scene and the body in the cage, Keats ran to the bathroom and heaved up the entire contents of her stomach.


	26. Truth or Truth

Ryan Wolfe strode up to the front desk of Las Vegas Police Department. It had taken him nearly two hours to find it but he finally made it.

"CSI Ryan Wolfe, Miami Dade, P.D. I'm here to see Ms. Remington." He said, showing his badge to the receptionist. The receptionist gave him an odd look, calling up someone on the phone. She mumbled into it softly, giving him weird glances every once in awhile.

"Please wait here. Dr. Grissom will be with you in a moment." She said as she hung up. Obviously they didn't get visitors very often. Ryan casually stood near a bulletin board, checking out the pics from the Las Vegas Most Wanted list.

"Agent Wolfe, what a nice surprise. Are you here on business?" Grissom said, shaking his hand. Grissom had been forewarned that Keats had transferred due to personal reasons.

"Is K.J. Remington on duty? I'd like to talk to her, if you don't mind." He replied. Grissom cocked his head to the side and nodded. He motioned for Ryan to follow him.

Keats yawned and laid her head down on her little work desk. It had been a long day what with applying for the transfer, packing in a hurry, flying to Vegas, and working a straight 12-hour shift. She had a break coming and she was going to take it.

She closed her eyes, feeling her muscles relax. She tried not to think about the crime scene, but somehow her thoughts became surrounded by it. She could see nothing but red and she felt a strong wave of nausea. A slight jolt of pain in her neck caused her to wake up with a start.

She was sweating and gasping, frightened out of her mind. Especially when she turned and found Ryan standing next to her with a grim look on his face.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. _He came after me…I feel so…funny inside. _

"I should be asking you that same question, Keats. This place is not for you. You're having nightmares…Come back to Miami with me." He said, leaning closer to her. His face was fierce and determined.

"We're through, Ryan. I can't just go back at the drop of a hat." She returned to her pile of paperwork and tried to get busy, knowing damn well she couldn't with Ryan breathing fire down her neck.

"This has nothing to do with us. Miami Dade lost a great criminalist yesterday and I want to make sure we get her back." He said, inches away from her face.

"I'm coming back for my sister's wedding…but this is where I work right now. I made a choice and I have to stick to my guns." Keats said, standing to face him head-on.

"We'll see about that. Let's talk. Have a few drinks…we'll just see if you won't change your mind." His voice dropped to a very low register, his eyes boring into Keats with ardent passion.

"Fine. I'll have a few drinks with you. But you're wasting your time."

A strawberry daiquiri and two Shirley Temples later, Ryan sat across from Keats in a smoky bar two miles from the Las Vegas Strip. After graduating from malt liquor (or the non-alcoholic Shirley Temple), the pair ordered a bottle of gin. Ryan set out two shotglasses between them and stared at her expectantly.

"Let's play a little game." He said, filling each glass full to the hilt. Keats sighed, more than a little troubled that her reserve to fight him was crumbling. She nodded submissively.

"It's called 'truth or truth.'" He said, the side of his cheek resting on his fist.

"That's original." Keats said, laughing. _What am I doing? Abandon ship!!!!_

"I'll go first. Truth: Did Natalia say something to you about me?" He asked, pushing her glass forward. Keats lifted the glass nervously and tossed it back. _Ugh._

"Yes." She said. It was an answer of complete surrender and she felt ashamed for lying to him. He gave a nod of satisfaction.

"Your turn." He said, holding his shotglass up to his lips. Keats racked her brain trying to find a question that wasn't controversial.

"Um…okay. Truth: Are you jealous of Cooper?" Keats asked. _You call that 'non-controversial'? Whatever…_

"Yes." He said without missing a beat. It was a straight-up answer that Keats wasn't expecting. He drank and slammed his glass down. He pulled Keats' glass out of her trembling fingers and sat it down beside his own, refilling both of them.

"Truth: You transferred because you're in love with me…right?" He asked. Keats' eyes widened. The game was getting far too intense for her liking.

"How do you figure that?" She asked him, trying to act cynical.

"If we were still in Miami, I bet we'd be in my bed at this very moment. You didn't want to have to deal with the temptation did you? God, Keats. I can read you like a book." He said, leaning back in his chair.

Keats drank from her glass and set it down. Not wanting to answer, she poured some more gin into the glass and kept drinking until Ryan grabbed both of her hands.

"Answer the question, Keats."


	27. Only the Ring Finger Knows

It was useless to pretend she was anything other than what she was. In love.

"Okay, so I love you, you big, dumb jerk! What now?" She snapped. It was infuriating how he always knew how to strip her down to her most basic feelings while he never had to say a word in return. Her anger flared while he simply sat back and smiled.

"Your turn." He said. It was a flat-out mockery of her feelings. Keats gritted her teeth and poured a hearty helping of gin into his glass, while refreshing her own.

"Truth: The only reason you came to find me was for my contribution to the Ladykiller case." Keats retorted, her green eyes flashing. Ryan laughed, much to Keats' behest.

"You can be such an idiot at times… I want you to come back to Miami for the sake of the Crime Lab. That part is true." Ryan said. Keats encouraged him to continue.

"I went to come find you because I wanted to. Nobody asked me, and it wasn't because I was thinking about some serial killer. Do you understand what I'm saying?" He asked. Keats felt she was dangerously close to a revelation that she couldn't handle.

"Your turn." She murmured dizzily, taking yet another shot of gin. Ryan gave a gruff sigh and rubbed his temples.

"Fine… Truth: If Ryan Wolfe asked Keats Remington to marry him, would she say yes? That's not a proposal, by the way. It's a hypothetical question."

Perhaps it was the gin, or the company, or maybe even the lack of sleep, but sometime after he asked his last question, Keats lost her ability for rational thought.

"I don't know. She's never been asked…but I'll tell her if I see her." Keats murmured as her face fell flat on the table.

Keats woke up in an unfamiliar hotel room. _This isn't the one Grissom showed me yesterday…_

She fumbled around in the dark and struggled to put on some clothes. She fell backward several times and ran her fingers through her hair, grabbing her bag and heading out the door.

After exiting the building, she almost didn't recognize where she was. It was the hotel across the street from the bar. She shrugged, more concerned about being late for work and feeling like crap than wondering what happened after she passed out and how she ended up at a random hotel.

She walked into the Las Vegas P.D. Crime Lab trying to forget about everything that had happened the previous night. _Ryan is just teasing me. The team at Miami Dade sent him to speak on their behalf and he's just complying with their wishes. It has nothing to do with how much I love him. And dammit, I really do._

_Sorry to disappoint you, Ryan, but I'm staying right here no matter what you say._

Warrick Brown, the attractive African American audio/visual analyst with gray eyes, and Nick Stokes, the handsome Texan fiber analyst, brought Keats to the darkroom for closer examination of the bloody cage from the crime scene.

Keats felt a bit intimidated by the two men by the mere fact that they were so gorgeous. And much older. Pushing forty, even. _But boy, are they nice to look at._

They shined their flashlights all around the cage, taking bloodwork, fingerprints, and the occasional piece of lint.

"Check this out. Black fuzz. Why do vampires always wear black?" Stokes asked. Brown chuckled and shook his head.

"Just how many vampires do you know, man?" He said. Stokes shrugged with a grin. Keats began packing away their materials when Warrick Brown shined his light over Keats' hand.

"Congratulations. I didn't know you were married, Remington. Or is it something else, now?" He wondered. Keats was speechless. She looked down at her left hand and saw the shiny gold band on her ring finger.

_I'm married??? _

She went into the nearest restroom and pulled out her cell, dialing Ryan's number hurriedly. She waited for a bit until she finally heard his voice.

"Mmm…Wolfe here." He mumbled, sleepily.

"Wolfe…did you take advantage of my inebriated condition last night?" Keats asked , her voice beginning to rise out of sheer panic.

"What do you mean? We got drunk and went back to my hotel room to sleep it off. And I was sleeping quite soundly, as a matter of fact, before you called." Ryan groaned.

"Do me a favor and check your left hand. I'll call you back later." She said. She heard scuffling on the other end and hung up with a sigh.

_Screw Las Vegas and their numerous wedding chapels!!!_

"Dr. Grissom? Can I talk to you?" Keats asked as she pulled up a chair next to him. Grissom put down his files and gave her his undivided attention.

"I don't mean to be indecisive, but I'm afraid I have to go back after I finish up this case, Dr. Grissom." She said. It was there…out in the open. Finally.

"Keats, I had planned on sending you back in a few weeks anyway. Lt. Caine didn't want you gone permanently. He knows what a great commodity you are. But if you should happen to leave early, I don't think he'd mind." He said, giving her a warm pat on the back.

"Oh, and call me Gil. You've earned it, kiddo."


	28. That Someone

"So tell me about this ritual, Mr. La Vey. Is it all for kicks, or are you trying prove something?" Keats asked. Jack La Vey was a tall man. A quiet, passive man. A man that made you realize just about anyone can be a murderer in disguise.

"We normally drink from animal remains." He whispered. Keats pretended he meant just having his steak undercooked.

"What was different about this time?" She asked. La Vey's eyes danced around the room before they landed on Keats.

"When a new member pledges…we always have a live sacrifice." He said after a time. Keats felt her throat closing up when pictures of the body flashed across her mind.

"How do you choose your sacrifices?" Keats asked, sitting at the edge of the table. La Vey looked at her, aghast. Obviously it was a sacred question.

"No one is allowed to know that outside of the circle." He said. Keats leaned down and stared into his frightened eyes.

"Give me some names from your circle." She said in a quiet voice. La Vey winced and hesitated.

"If you tell me who helped you murder Anton Chaney, then I'll make sure you get a reduced sentence." She added. Unfortunately, La Vey shook his head, his face changing into something unholy.

"It is my privilege to bear the law upon my shoulders for the sake of my circle." He gave a hideous grin that revealed rather sharp, ominous teeth. Keats shuddered and closed his file. La Vey's confession was her ticket home.

Keats said her goodbyes, happy to have met the team in Las Vegas. True, the cases had given her a sense of paranoia she'd never had before, but it was an experience well worth the drawbacks in Keats' humble opinion.

"Take it easy on the honeymoon, huh? You've been working hard." Warrick Brown and Nick Stokes said, making Keats turn hot pink. The marriage was something she didn't let herself think about often.

"You are welcome back here anytime, Ms. Remington." Gil Grissom said as he gave her a quick hug. Grissom had never had children, but he entertained the notion that if he had a daughter, she would be like Keats.

"Actually it's Mrs. Wolfe." Keats slowly turned around to find Ryan standing there, a rather wry expression on his face. Keats made a snappy transition from hot pink to dark red. She slapped him on the shoulder and waved to her Las Vegas counterparts.

"You're absolutely loving this, aren't you?" Keats muttered as they left the L.V.P.D. Ryan gave a smile that was easy to interpret.

"Listen, we need to find out if the marriage is legal. If it isn't, then my name is still Remington. Which sounds better anyway…" Keats said with a snarl. _He has no idea how badly I want to be married to him. But he thinks it's just a big joke._

"I'll make some calls when we get back to Miami. Right now, I'm thinking about taking my wife out to lunch." He said as he led her to a small restaurant a few blocks away. _Grrr…_

"Why are you smiling like that? It's kind of irritating, Wolfe." Keats mumbled as she ate her pasta. His smiles were frequent…and smug.

"It's just hilarious, don't you think? We're married…What would H say?"

"Speaking of Horatio, that reminds me…I think it would be best if we just found out how binding the marriage is. If it we're seriously, legally married then we'll just have to find a way to get it annulled. But either way, we tell no one about this. I won't even tell Sloane." Keats sipped her soda thoughtfully.

"Are you ashamed to be my wife? Because it kind of sounds like you are." Wolfe had since stopped eating and kept his gaze focused on Keats.

"No…nothing like that. I want to get married to someone someday, but I'd rather be conscious while I'm taking my vows." Keats said with a smile. Ryan laughed.

"Am I not that someone?" Ryan asked. His face was difficult to read as he had a silly smile plastered to his adorable face.

"I don't know. Are you?" She asked. It was high time he told her how he really felt. But instead of answering, he left some money on the table and stood up.

"Come on, Keats. We have a plane to catch."


	29. Remington Steele

"Eeee!!! Kit!" Sloane ran to her sister and gave her another bone-crunching hug at the conveyor belts where they waited for their luggage.

"I've been away for less than a week, heifer." Keats said, disentangling her limbs from that of her sister's. Sloane glanced at Ryan and gave him a friendly wink.

"You're so romantic. Chasing after her like that…" Sloane smiled at him. Keats cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Sloane, Ryan is just my mentor. We had a one-night-stand a while back and we've decided to keep things professional from now on. Right, Ryan?" Keats said, cutting him off at the pass. It was one thing to tease, but it was quite another to hold back.

_If this is the way you wanna play it, lover boy…you're on._

"Right." He replied. His face was blank and Keats wondered whether he truly felt that way all along.

Keats entered Miami Dade P.D. with renewed vigor. The case back in Las Vegas had been just what she needed to clear her mind and clarify her perceptions.

She walked into the Lab and found Eric Delko jotting down some things in a file. He looked up at her and beamed. She crossed the distance between them and embraced him affectionately.

"I missed you, Remington Steele." He said, eventually pulling her away so he could look at her face. Keats laughed at his offbeat joke.

"We need your help in a bad way. We've only got 24 hours left on the Ladykiller case." Eric said after the joy of the reunion had died down. Keats nodded, throwing herself into the case if only to ease the pain of her loveless joke of a marriage to Ryan.

Keats reviewed the list of victims over and over again. She gave a heavy sigh and checked her watch. She was due for a fifteen minute break and she used it by getting on the computer and accessing the internet. She typed in 'serial killer' on a search engine, eventually reading over the definition on Wikipedia. She browsed through a list of serial killers over the last century and stopped when she came across the name Ted Bundy.

Upon closer inspection, the profile of the Ladykiller seemed to be identical to that of Ted Bundy. She browsed over the list of victims and what was most commonly known about them. She compared them to the known list of Bundy's victims and her eyes widened when a clear-cut connection was made.

"Calleigh, get this…the Ladykiller is creating a pattern." Keats exclaimed, showing Calleigh her notes and all the tie-ins between every victim.

"Well what do you know? Ladykiller has an Achilles heel after all." She murmured, thoroughly studying the notes.

"For example: Sharleen McNamara, the bride in the bath, was known as a wanderer by all her friends because she never stayed in one place for too long…constantly taking road trips and mini-vacations here and there. Put that beside of Brenda Ball, Bundy's seventh victim in Washington, who was a reportedly compulsive traveler, and you have a solid link." Keats said triumphantly.

"Tell me about his eighth victim. So we can find her before he does." Horatio had been listening at the door and entered the room.

"Good to have you back, June." He added as she filled him in on Bundy's eighth.

_Georgann Hawkins was abducted from an alley as she was leaving her boyfriend's fraternity to go home to her sorority 90 feet away._

"Is that enough of a clue to go on?" Keats wondered.

"If he's continuing with his original pattern, we should be looking for a newly married college girl that still belongs to a sorority…Let's find her." Horatio said with a glint in his eye.

"Candy Steadham…you're a recent pledge of Pi Kappa Sigma, Greater Miami Chapter, correct?" Calleigh asked, looking down at a document of Candy's collegiate information. Keats sat beside her, making notes in her composition book.

"Actually I'm a full-fledged member now. I've been through the hazing and everything." She said proudly.

"And you're married?" Keats asked, finding a parallel between her current case and her current predicament with Ryan. _Oh, the irony._

"Yes. We got married a few days ago. We haven't really gone anywhere to celebrate, yet, but we were going to wait until Spring Break…Classes, you know." Candy said with a cheery smile.

"Your husband, is he a student of Miami U as well?" Calleigh asked. Candy wrinkled her pert little college nose.

"Eck, no…please…he's way older than dumb college boys. He's a man…He actually…well, I really don't know what he does now that I think about it…" Candy glanced up at the wall as though trying to remember something she'd never been told.

"And there's a party both of you will be attending later tonight at the frat house you live next to, correct?" Keats asked. Candy nodded, her blond ringlets bouncing up and down. _Give me a bucket, I think I'm going to puke…_

"So what is this about, anyway?" Candy asked, popping her gum. Keats and Calleigh glanced at each other.

"How would you like to have a bodyguard accompany you to that party tonight?" Calleigh asked, leaning closer. Candy gave a confused smile.


	30. Killer Party

Keats walked into the frat house of Delta Omicron Gamma behind sweet-as-candy Candy.

"You can spy on me all you want but I don't really want to be seen talking to you." She whispered. Keats nodded, hearing the laughter on the other end of her wire. Delko and Ryan were having a good laugh at her expense and she tried to blend in with her surroundings while keeping a sharp eye on Candy.

A guy wearing a black cowboy hat, boots, and shirt sauntered over to Keats. He brought his hat down a bit in a gesture of salutation. He was what Sloane would have called 'hot salsa'.

"Hey, cutie. Ever ridden a horse before?" He asked. Keats laughed in spite of herself.

"Nice pickup line, Billy Ray." She said, making sure Candy was still close by.

"I got a better one. How would you like to ride a cowboy?" He said, pinning her against the wall. Keats shrugged and noticed that Candy was kissing someone near the fireplace.

"Candy is such a slut. She just got married and she's already whoring around with her ex." Keats heard someone say.

"Who's Billy Ray?" Ryan asked. The handsome cowboy looked a bit puzzled by the random voice coming out of Keats' ear. Keats turned off her wire.

"Nobody." She said with a flirtatious smile. _Maybe I can use this guy to get some info on little miss 'take you to my Candy Shop'._

"I don't rightly recognize you, sweet thang." He purred. Keats noticed Candy making her way slowly up the stairs with her ex-boyfriend.

"Do you wanna go upstairs?" Keats asked, already taking off after Candy. The cowboy followed her in a flash_. Guys are so funny. Sex commands the brain._

Candy slipped into one of the many bedrooms along the hall and Keats went into the one right beside it. She sat on the bed and leaned her ear against the adjoining wall, feeling grossly voyeuristic.

Cowboy Joe, or whatever his name was, came into the room and slammed the door shut behind him. He locked it and pounced on the bed like a 12-year-old boy. Keats threw a pillow in his face and told him to shut up. Cowboy Joe obeyed.

Keats could hear giggling and she made a face. _I have to listen to that all night long? What if she never leaves the frat house? I guess I'm stuck with Coyote Joe._

"Are we gonna have sex or what?" He whined. Keats suppressed a howl of laughter. But in keeping up appearances, she made a slight shrug with her shoulders. This seemed to drive Coyote Joe up the wall.

Suddenly Keats heard a scream from in the next room and she bounded off the bed and into the hallway. She kicked the door down to the next room and held her gun ready in front of her.

"Freeze!" She shouted, catching Candy in the act with her ex-boyfriend. They glanced up at her fearfully and Keats had never felt more ridiculous in her entire life.

"Shit." She mumbled under her breath. Her cover had been blown, and far too soon.

"Candy…where is your husband?" She asked, carefully stowing her weapon. Coyote Joe had followed her into the room and stood smiling at her. Candy pointed at the deranged cowboy and Keats swallowed hard.

"I'm her husband." He said, grinning like a demon. He tightened his fist and shoved it in her stomach. Keats doubled over in pain. Coyote Joe knocked her backward, sending her sprawling to the floor.

"So you finally found me, huh? We could have screwed first just for fun…maybe we still can." He came to rest on his knees beside her. She was still puffing heavily, clutching her abdomen.

Candy and her ex-boyfriend slipped out after the commotion started, and now it was just Keats and the Ladykiller. He placed a confident hand on her thigh and grabbed it, pulling her closer to him.

"I don't usually do it this way…I never thought of myself as a rapist." He said, crawling on top of her. She was slowly gaining her strength back and she socked him square in the jaw. The Ladykiller recoiled, but recovered swiftly and grabbed a handful of hair, slamming her head against the hardwood floor.

Keats saw stars and was powerless to stop him as he ripped open her button-up shirt. She groped blindly for her gun, only to have him toss it to the side. He began working on the zipper of her jeans, sliding them down her hips expertly.

Eric and Ryan entered the fraternity house looking about as out of place as two porcupines in a balloon store.

"Have you seen Candy Steadham?" Eric asked a girl near the stairwell.

"That tramp? She went upstairs with Greg Fehris, her ex-lover. I saw her husband follow her up there with another girl. Red hair…glasses…"

Eric and Ryan exchanged glances and raced up the stairs. Along the way they ran into Candy Steadham and her half-naked Greg. Eric stopped them, motioning for Ryan to go on without him.

Ryan heard a shot being fired and went to the source of the sound. He saw Keats running out into the hallway, pulling up her jeans, her blouse unbuttoned. Seeing her like that…knowing he had nothing to do with undressing her…it made something inside of him snap.

"Coyote Joe's taking a dirt-nap in there. The bastard doesn't even know how to disrobe a lady." She laughed, fingering the broken buttons on her shirt.

Without warning, he backed her into the wall and gazed into her eyes furiously.

"Don't mess around with guys like that, Keats… You want to end up dead? Don't work at M.D.P.D." He said with a low, venomous tone as he turned away from her. Keats could feel her eyes welling up with frustrated tears.

"You jerk." She said, scrambling down the steps past hordes of drunk coeds. Ryan tightened his fist and slammed it into the wall, knowing only too well that he'd taken out his anger and jealousy on her. It wasn't fair to her. And yet he'd done it anyway.

"I'm such an idiot." He whispered to himself.


	31. Madame Justice

Keats went into her apartment and closed the door gently behind her. She leaned back against it, sliding all the way down to the floor. Her tears refused to let up and she let them fall without a fight.

"Are you through giving me the cold shoulder?" Natalia leaned over Eric, trying to peer into his face. He gave her a lukewarm smile.

"It's not you, I promise. I'm just going over some paperwork. It doesn't look too good, I don't think." He said, rather distracted.

"What doesn't look good?" She asked curiously. A series of harsh footsteps sounded behind them.

"Internal Affairs Bureau, Sergeant Richard Stetler. Nice to see you again, Delko. Got some questions about your little stowaway," He flipped open a memo pad and read from it, "Keats Juniper Remington. It seems she's fallen under our radar."

"Isn't customary of IAB to notify the head of the Crime Lab before they send someone to collect information?" Horatio appeared in the doorway and stood with his arms crossed, glaring at Stetler.

"I wouldn't be so picky over protocol, Caine. You've been giving an undergrad the privileges of a full CSI. I'm here to put a stop to that."

"She was qualified by the Law Enforcement offices-"

"Don't give me that shit, Caine. This is out of their jurisdiction. The only question remaining is: whom should I arrest? _Her_, for posing as an officer of the law and a criminalist at this Lab, or _you_ for allowing it to happen... I've got the cuffs," He gestured to a cop standing in the corner, "Somebody's got to go in them. You decide which one, Caine, it's that easy."

"It's not even about Remington, is it, Stetler? This transcends the law itself…No one is leaving here in those handcuffs, least of all her." Horatio straightened, becoming eye to eye with Rick Stetler. An uncomfortable silence settled in.

"How did they find out?" Alexx asked Calleigh as she witnessed IAB's Stetler swaggering down the hall.

"The Ladykiller case. Junie had to open fire and when they investigated the shooting, they discovered her papers didn't make sense." She said sadly. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, but no one ever dreamed it could get ugly.

Keats woke up with her eyes nearly swollen shut from all her crying. She made herself a cup of hot chocolate to cheer herself up before she went to work, but ended up burning herself on the stove.

She also managed to lock her keys inside her car and had to ask the landlord for help at six in the morning. Her hair was a mess and she felt terribly repulsive, but she drove to work anyway, hoping that solving a case would ease her troubled mind.

And then someone had stolen Keats' parking spot and she had to park several yards away. _Can this day get any worse??? _

As Keats walked up to the entrance of Miami Dade, she got her answer.

"You have the right to remain silent…" It was worse than any bad dream she'd ever had. A police officer shoved her forward into the side of the building. He pinned her arms behind her and slapped a pair of cuffs on her trembling wrists.

_My sister's wedding is tomorrow…I can't miss it. _

She was forced into the backseat of the nearest squad car and she leaned her head against the window_. I'm not even allowed to go inside? Unbelievable. How did I end up this way? I must have done something bad to deserve this…_

Keats had grown too numb to cry, so she sated herself by closing her eyes and pretending she was somewhere else far away.

A thin, stately woman of about seventy entered the Police Department wearing a prim blue business suit. She was a commanding sort of woman, not to be trifled with under any means. Aged, but still boasting the beauty of her younger days.

She sauntered up to the front desk gracefully, permeating an aura of majesty.

"Where have you taken my granddaughter, you piece of slime?" Her voice was deep and characteristically tough. She glowered at the man behind the desk until he pointed down the hall with a quivering finger.

Keats sat in one of the interrogation rooms, finding it rather funny that just yesterday she'd been on the other side of the table. Literally.

She had been waiting for someone to call a lawyer, or someone to ask her some questions…but she had been by herself for the better part of an hour. _Is this really how long it takes? I never knew…_

Suddenly she heard a few voices outside the door and sat up a bit straighter. The door opened briskly, allowing a fabulous view of Grammy Remington in war mode.

"Keats, I'm not going to ask what you did, darling, but just the same I'm going to get you out of this mess." She said, coming to stand behind her as a few prosecutors and detectives filed into the room. She rested her bony hands on Keats' shoulders protectively.

"Ms. Remington, I hardly need to list the charges against you…you're already aware of the proceedings…Would you like to phone your attorney, now?" said the tiny man representing the state of Miami. The elder Remington lady cleared her throat and cast an angry glance in his direction.

"_I_ will represent my granddaughter, if it so please the court." She said. The D.A.'s expression was one of skeptical amusement. Angry fathers they'd had before…but angry grandmas? Not so much.

"You?" He asked with a sneer. The prosecutor nodded emphatically.

"You may not realize it, but Ouida Belle Remington was a former judge in the Supreme Court of the State of Mississippi. She knows her junk, Mr. Gibbons."

Dave Gibbons, the D.A., glanced around frantically for some sort of explanation.

"Can she do that?" He whispered to the prosecutor. The prosecutor shrugged.

"Now if you gentleman don't mind, I'd like to talk to my granddaughter in private, seeing as she's my client…" Grammy cast a sly eye towards the door in subtle affirmation. The men shuffled out slowly and rather reluctantly.

As soon as they had left, Grammy Remington sat across from Keats and grabbed her file from the table. She put on her reading glasses and glanced over the documents with self-assured authority. She then dropped the files back on the table and glanced up at Keats.

"You mean to tell me that the International Affairs Bureau has only just now caught wind of this alleged subterfuge? If anyone should be on trial here, it should be them. Now it says here that the Law Enforcement Offices allowed you to be a part-time agent as long as you agreed to a few of their rules…"

Keats sat in a nervous silence as she waited for her grandmother to surmise the total damage of her case.

"As far as I can see, you've only committed a misdemeanor. You were following the orders of a superior whenever you crossed the line…" She made a few notes in the margins and murmured to herself.

_I'd rather go to jail for this than let Horatio take the blame…I'm young, stupid, and expendable. Horatio is too priceless to lose at Miami Dade._

"Will this mean that I can't work at M.D.P.D. when I graduate?" Keats asked worriedly. Grammy Remington gave her a weary smile.

"Probably…but for now I'm just trying to keep you out of prison, dear."


	32. Biloxi Blues

Lt. Caine joined the pair in the interrogation room not long after they were left to their own devices. Caine felt wholly responsible for the transgressions that Keats was accused of.

"June, I promise I won't let anything happen to you." He had said before Ouida Remington pulled him aside for a private discussion.

"Somehow my granddaughter got mixed up in this shady business, but I am going to make sure it never happens again." She said, her demeanor proud and somewhat self-important.

"I thought T.C. Remington was the hotshot lawyer in the family." Horatio replied, holding his own against the powerful grandmother. Ouida Remington smiled bitterly.

"My son is a good-for-nothing father. He's never been there for her like I have… Don't worry, Lt. Caine. The Remington Family is full of prestigious lawyers. We take care of our own." She said with a slight nod of the head. It was a curt dismissal, and one that Horatio Caine took personally.

Keats waited in a cold room with bad fluorescent lighting as her grandmother presented her defense during her impromptu arraignment. Grammy Remington had requested a quick trial due to Sloane's fast-approaching wedding.

Keats chewed her fingernails and wondered vaguely if Ryan had heard. _Of course he has, dummy. He doesn't live under a rock._

_I wonder what he thinks of me now that I'm a criminal. He never loved me before…what if he despises me now? Especially since I'm the reason that Horatio has to resign._

_Horatio's Resignation. _It was widely spread news and Keats didn't know if it was simply rumor or unabashed truth. Wherever or however it came, Keats felt disgusted with herself nonetheless.

Presently the doors opened and Ouida Belle Remington came out all smiles, shaking the hands of everyone she passed. Keats rose in hopeful anticipation.

"You've been acquitted, darling. I knew they'd see the truth." She held Keats in her arms, leading her outside to a rented limousine. They were headed to Grammy Remington's hotel suite overlooking the beach.

Keats had showered and eaten, and she would have looked wonderfully healthy if it weren't for the dour, melancholy expression on her face.

Ouida Belle sat in her white silken robe tasting a few ladyfingers from the dessert tray she'd had sent up from room service. She put them down, however, when she realized that Keats hadn't smiled since she'd been cleared of her charges.

"Juniper, is something wrong?" She asked mildly. Keats was standing near the edge of the balcony, her hands on the ledge, looking dreamily into the ocean water.

"I…I realize this must be hard for you, darling. Feeling responsible for that man's resignation. I heard you were quite fond of him…" Grammy Remington held her tongue and waited for Keats to take the bait.

She slowly turned to face her beloved grandmother and nodded. Shrewd Ouida Belle Remington emerged and she began to think of a proposition.

"If I could make it so that Lt. Caine does not lose his job…well, what I mean is…what is it worth to you?" She asked. She was quick to follow up with words of consolation to hide the true motive.

"It would mean the world to me if he was forgiven. I would do anything if they'd just let him go back to work!" Keats cried, playing into the palm of her grandmother's misguided hand.

"I can make it happen darling…But I would request a small favor in return. This isn't exactly a bargain, because I was planning on asking you anyway..."

"Yes…" Keats persuaded her to continue.

"Come back to Biloxi with me, Juniper. You can graduate from Ole Miss just like your daddy and your Uncle Vinton." She held onto Keats' arms, rubbing them comfortingly.

"Why?" was all she could think to ask. Grammy Remington gave her a wistful smile.

"Aunt Roe hasn't lived with me for quite some time and…an old woman gets lonely without anyone to take care of." She stroked her cheek with great tenderness. Keats could empathize deeply. She had wanted to take care of Ryan…but that was all over now.

"I would love to, Grammy. But can you please help Horatio get his job back?" She asked, her big green eyes misting up with pitiful tears.

"Of course, dear. Grammy will take care of everything."

Horatio Caine was madder than Hell. Keats' sanctimonious grandmother had threatened to get him fired if he didn't release her from her internship at Miami Dade P.D. When he refused blatantly, he knew that it would not stop there. Her half-empty threats would find a way to get what she wanted, using whatever angle necessary to attain results.

And when Keats had sent him an email telling him she was dropping out of the CSI training program, he knew what Ouida had done.


	33. No More Running

Keats adjusted Sloane's veil and fluffed it out behind her. Sloane's honey blond curls were surrounding her delicately curved face and Keats was sure that she had never seen her look more exquisite.

Sloane was putting the finishing touches on her makeup, but she paused to glance at Keats. They shared a moment of simple peace, the briefest second of bonding that only siblings as close as twins can share. Keats handed her sister the bouquet of white roses with the dangling satin ribbons and straightened out her train.

T.C. Remington knocked on the door to the bride's room and came in hesitantly. His inability to experience his daughter's day of joy was a direct result of his neglect. But despite that, Sloane was incredibly happy to see him.

"Daddy." She said as she stood, modeling the dress for his approval. He gave an awkward grin and kissed her cheek, his eyes turning pink with regret. Sloane hugged her father, an unspoken sign of forgiveness for all his past wrongs.

"Juniper, it's your turn to walk down the aisle. Remember? In front of Sloane, just the way we practiced?" Grammy Remington held open the door wearing a pink dress suit and matching corsage.

_"It's your turn…"_ Keats remembered the night she went drinking with Ryan. She also remembered waking up the next morning in bed with him, even though she hadn't known it at the time. And she had married him without a single memory of the occurrence.

"Juniper…they're waiting for you." She called to her through the dense fog of her memories. Keats blinked a few times and she grabbed her own bouquet of red roses, taking a deep breath as she walked in front of the double doors leading to the vestibule.

"You know, Horatio…I've seen some pretty disgusting remains in the field, but this one…" Alexx covered her mouth with the back of her hand to keep from retching. A decomposing corpse had been shoved in an empty room aboard a cruise ship and hadn't been discovered until they reached the port.

"He's had two weeks to fester, and this pleasure cruise didn't do _him_ any favors." She mumbled as she examined the body. Horatio slipped on his sunglasses as Detective Tripp handed him a passenger manifest.

"This man was one of the chefs onboard. They thought he stayed ashore back in Cozumel, Mexico." Tripp said.

"Obviously, Frank, someone didn't think too highly of his cooking."

Ryan stood pacing in the hallway as Horatio described the conversation he'd shared with Ouida Remington. He had met her in the Lobby two hours before the wedding and they discussed Keats' future almost as if she would have no part in shaping it.

_"You must understand, Lt. Caine, that she is my granddaughter and I love her. That having been said, I told her the truth this morning. I was willing to have her despise me because I knew how much she loved working at your Lab…but after I told her, she didn't seemed surprised at all. 'You've always been like this, Grammy!' she told me… I underestimated her." Ouida's outward face was cracking like porcelain. _

_"I appreciate your honesty, Mrs. Remington, but where does she stand as of now?"_

_"I don't know…she still seemed set on the idea of going to Biloxi with me. I tried to talk her out of it…I know she can't possibly want to go with me. Juniper is an odd girl…she's very loving at times, but she runs away from everything. If she is determined to stay here in Miami, then I can't possibly stop her. But I can't force her to stay, either. That choice is only hers to make, I'm afraid." She said, revealing herself to be just an old, lonely, vulnerable woman._

"So you're saying we can't do anything?" Ryan asked incredulously. Horatio shook his head, appearing to be calm. Inside, however, he was greatly distressed.

"If June really wants to stay…if she's not afraid to face her demons…then she'll stay. But none of us can intervene in this. It has to be of her own free will… I suppose this is the ultimate test of her dedication to this Lab." Horatio began to leave, his face lined with concern. Then he stopped and glanced at Ryan.

"…and her dedication to you."

Keats sat beside her half-sisters Cecily and Lavinia, barely tasting her piece of cake. The girls had swallowed their food whole and were looking at Keats, watching her pick at her dessert. She grinned and slid the plate over to them, laughing as they devoured it and licked the plate clean.

T.C. Remington walked up to his daughter and held out his hand to her. Keats didn't quite understand his intention, but she let herself be guided onto the dance floor as her father placed a loving arm around her.

"Dance with me, kiddo?" He asked hopefully. Keats nodded, flushing slightly at the thought of dancing in front of everyone.

"Your grandma tells me you're moving in with her. Is that true?" He said softly, swaying to the music. Keats bit her lip.

"Don't answer, sweetheart. Just listen," he gave a sigh as though he were about to impart something that he would just as soon not say, "You may be shy at times like your mother, but you're exactly like me in every other way. When you were little…and Mommy was out of town on location doing photo shoots…I was a wreck. I didn't know how to take care of three young men, let alone two little girls.

I asked Grammy to take care of you. I placed the burden on her and ran away from my responsibility. Ever since then I've regretted that decision. I missed getting to know you and your sister…and how wonderful you both turned out. I missed it all.

And I know this may not make a lot of sense to you, sweetie, but…you can't hide from your problems. They'll always be there, whether you're twenty-one, fifty, or ninety-nine. You might as well face them now, while you've still got a chance to make a difference. Do you…understand what I'm saying?" T.C. finished with a nervous smile.

"Yes, Daddy. I do." She said as she hugged and kissed him. She whispered something in his ear and he nodded to her, waving as she left the dining hall of the hotel. Ouida walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"She's really growing up, isn't she?" Grammy whispered in a sigh.


	34. Blissful Folly

Keats Juniper Remington walked down the familiar halls of Miami Dade P.D. She headed toward the office of one Horatio Caine, feeling mildly embarrassed about asking to continue her internship after she'd caused so much trouble already.

Horatio opened the door swiftly, as though he'd been expecting her at any given moment. Keats began to flush mildly, keeping her eyes on her feet.

"June…I'm glad you're back." He said with a sigh. It was one that she didn't begrudge him; he had every right to feel frustrated with her.

But instead of lecturing her as she'd seen him do to so many others, he simply smiled at her in a wistful way. Almost as though he was remembering a time when he'd done similar things himself.

"I've been waiting for you to come back. The Lab is ready to welcome you with open arms again…provided that specific requirements have been met." He said reluctantly. It was Keats' turn to sigh.

_What, you didn't just think that you could come back, did you? One day you're out, the next day you're back in…it's not that easy, Keats._

"Requirements?" She asked. Her concern was apparent.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Remington, I'm Detective Berkeley." said the man who had been sitting in the corner the whole time. Keats jumped.

"I don't understand." She mumbled. Det. Berkeley smiled, his upper lip sporting a scar that hid a deeper story. Horatio cleared his throat.

"They want Detective Berkeley to oversee your internship…making sure you follow all the rules." He said with a hint of sarcasm. Keats bit her lip.

"And I mean to make sure you abide by _all_ the rules." Det. Berkeley said, his scruffy brown hair falling into his brown eyes. Something about him made Keats uneasy, but she was determined to finish her internship with flying colors.

"All right. What case are we working on right now?" Keats asked, anxious to break back into crime solving.

"Alexx is through with the autopsy, why don't you start there?" Horatio said, leading her into the hall again. He gave Berkeley a rather cold glance but said nothing.

Keats listened as Alexx filled her in on the cause of death and other details. Jake Berkeley stood beside her, yawning. When she made her way back up the steps from the morgue, she turned on him suddenly.

"Do the rules stipulate that you have to follow me everywhere?" She snapped. Berkeley gave a small nod and rolled his eyes, as if she should have known all along.

_I had hoped to talk to Ryan but I can't exactly do that with Magnum P.I. on my tail…_

Keats walked into the lab with her shadow trailing behind her. Ryan looked up, more surprised to see Jake Berkeley than Keats herself.

"You again…didn't you stir things up enough last time?" He asked, referring to the incident with Boa Vista's ex-husband, Nick. Berkeley laughed, finding it hilarious that he had actually been remembered.

"I'm not here to ruffle feathers, I promise. I'm just doing my job. My job as of this morning is to monitor your intern." He said, staring brazenly at Keats' derriere. She blushed, trying to shake off that cheap feeling one has when sampled like a piece of meat.

"As long as you're not in the way, I don't give a damn." Ryan said, returning to his paperwork. Keats felt as though she'd been punched in the chest.

_Another guy is checking me out and he doesn't care??? I'm his wife, for crying out loud!_

"Hey, no worries. I'm just here to observe." He said. And observe he did: When Keats examined photos of the crime scene, when she processed potential weapons, when she sampled the DNA results from Valera. He was attached to her hip.

"Who's the stalker?" Valera whispered as she handed Keats the data. Keats introduced Valera to Det. Berkeley and she nodded, giving her glances of utmost sympathy.

Natalia entered the DNA lab just as Keats was leaving and they stared at each other for a brief moment.

"K.J…um…I'm sorry about the other day. I didn't mean to be so facetious. I apologize." She said worriedly. Keats smiled, telling her not to worry about it. Boa Vista then turned to Jake Berkeley and glowered at him.

"I never thought I'd see you again, Jake. Too bad they didn't fire you for incompetence on Nick's case." She said, brushing past him.

Jake Berkeley gave an amused, somewhat annoyed laugh. He then leaned very close to her ear, still smiling.

"Why don't you bite me, Boa Vista?" He whispered.

Keats felt the tension in the room and wondered how she would be able to function carrying the stigma of Berkeley around with her.

Instead of giving Natalia a chance to reply, Keats hastily dragged Jake out of the DNA lab and pulled him aside.

"You told Agent Wolfe that you weren't here to cause trouble." Keats folded her arms over her chest. Berkeley shrugged.

"If someone is going to mess with me, I'm entitled to stick up for myself." He said, glancing at his watch. He gave himself a pat on the stomach.

"I'm gonna break for lunch. You comin' with?" He asked. Keats turned her head slightly in confusion.

"Are you kidding me?" She asked. This was beyond what she would deem as torture. Berkeley shook his head.

"The rules state that whenever you're on duty, I'm on duty. And since I'm going _off_ duty to grab a bite to eat…do the math, cutie." He said, leaning his arm against the wall behind her.

Ryan appeared out of nowhere and shoved Berkeley into the adjoining wall, standing in between him and Keats.

"For a guy that's so by-the-book, I'm surprised that you'd compromise your position for a quick fling with your case study…I'm only going to say this once, Berkeley: Leave Keats alone." He said, grabbing Keats by the arm and walking off in the opposite direction.

He pulled her into the nearest bathroom, wrapping his strong arms around her, kissing her with great intensity. She followed suit, meeting his passionate kisses with sudden sureness. It was stupid…it was wrong…but none of it mattered when their lips met.

"I knew you wouldn't leave…" He mumbled against her neck. She smiled, glad to know that he had faith in her. She captured his lips once more, not caring about words or anything else. She was in love. Even if he _was_ in it for lust alone, she'd gladly give herself over to it if it meant being with him like this.

"I love you…" She said without thinking. She tensed up, wishing that the heat of the moment hadn't made her admit it. Ryan took her face between his hands, rubbing his thumbs along her cheeks.

"Keats…" He whispered, gazing into her eyes. He mouthed the words back to her, words so sacred that they couldn't find a voice.

She brought her arms around his neck, bringing him closer to her. She felt indescribably happy. Perhaps tomorrow he would change his mind and say that he was just caught up in the romance of the moment, but Keats didn't care.

He was with her now, loving her _now_, and that was all she cared about.


	35. The Carnal Payoff

Detective Jake Berkeley noticed the heated glances between his case study and CSI Ryan Wolfe. The way he had marked his territory, the way he'd touched her when Jake had simply asked her to lunch…it was enough to pique his interest.

He watched Ryan take her away, fierce jealousy clouding his eyes, and he smiled to himself when he realized that his new assignment had a lot more going for it than originally assumed.

"This is going to be fun, I think." He mumbled to himself.

"Darrel Reims must have just joined the culinary staff of the S.S. Aquatique. He was hand-selected by the Captain from the Culinary Institute of Miami last December." Keats said as she flipped through his background info.

"That doesn't make any sense. Everyone was all signed up for the voyage to Cozumel as early as last spring." Ryan replied, glancing at the papers over her shoulder.

"Have we interviewed the Captain, yet?" She wondered. Ryan shook his head, giving Detective Tripp a ring on his cell.

"Yeah…on second thought, we _would_ like to question Capt. Walker." He hung up and gathered the files together, waiting for Keats to accompany him to the interrogation rooms. But Berkeley stood in front of her, blocking her path.

"I don't think so, Little Red Riding Hood. Out of your league." He said, smiling at his clever joke. Keats rolled her eyes.

"You're not the first person to call me that." She answered unenthusiastically. Defeated, she sat back down and reread her notes on the case.

"Why can't she sit in on the interrogation? As her mentor, don't you think I have the right to let her come with me?" Ryan asked. His voice was dangerously angry.

"Not when you're sleeping with your protégé, Agent Wolfe."

Ryan walked down the hall alone, his fists clenched tightly. He dared to let out a string of curses, but composed himself to interview the Captain of the S.S. Aquatique.

"So…how long have you been bonking Agent Wolfe?" Jake asked, his feet propped up on her end of the table. She tried to push them out of the way, but he was too stubborn to move them.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Berkeley. There's nothing going on between us." She said, busying herself with other things in an effort to make her statement sound believable.

"Isn't it…against the rules to date CSI Wolfe?" He kept going, seemingly enjoying the effect it was having on her nerves.

Keats ignored him, finding out everything she could about Captain Walker from the database. Berkeley moved his feet from the table to her lap.

"Will you let me do my job?" She squealed. Berkeley placed his feet on the floor, grinning at her. He was satisfied that he had throttled her up a bit and decided to go in for the kill.

"I wonder what would happen if I went to my supervisor and told him you were involved in a torrid affair with CSI Wolfe. I don't think he'd be too happy…"

His voice was condescending, his face ingenuous. He was luring her into something. Keats braced herself for the onslaught.

"What do you mean? It's my word against yours." She said softly. Berkeley gave a casual shrug, unbothered by the comment.

"I have seniority over you. Plus, I bet I can get a few witnesses that saw you two together." He said, glancing at his nails with a jaded expression on his face.

"What are you saying?" She asked. It was better to play dumb than to offer something she didn't have to.

"Maybe we can come to some sort of…fait accompli…" He said, his words sliding over her like silk on glass. She furrowed her brows, deeply troubled by the entire discourse.

"Like money?" She asked.

"Like you." He said. His hand reached over to her knee, sliding up the length of her thigh. Keats shuddered. She stood up, her hands shaking.

_What can I do? If he blabs on me, I'm toast. And if I don't do what he tells me to then I'll get kicked out of the program and Ryan will lose his job. But I can't agree to his terms…_

"Me? What do you want with me?" She wondered lamely. Jake Berkeley's licentious gaze brought a touch of scarlet to her cheeks.

"How do I explain this? You look so naïve…and virginal. You make a man want to tear you apart, Remington." He grasped her waist and held on tight. She pushed him away, angered at his nerve.

"Anything else but that, Berkeley." She said. She had all but given up on denying her relationship with Ryan.

"Call me Jake. And…there really isn't anything else I want. I just got promoted, so I don't need money. I'm higher than you on the totem pole, so you can't do me any favors…basically the only thing you can do for me…" He edged closer with every word.

"Is…" He leaned in, preparing to kiss her. Keats backed up a few paces.

"C'mon, Red. Put a smile on my face." He whispered in a sultry tone.

Keats resigned herself to feeling helpless. She was backed into a corner, trapped in the lion's den with Jake Berkeley snapping his jaws at her.

"What do I have to do?" She asked hopelessly. He gave a thin smile, knowing he had her right where he wanted her.

"I'm not above a quickie in the locker room." He murmured. Keats shook her head vehemently.

"Suit yourself. Meet me in the parking lot after work. We can do it in my Escalade." He sauntered off, leaving her alone for the first time in several hours.

Keats entered the DNA lab wringing her hands together wretchedly. She needed someone to point her in the right direction. And soon.


	36. Getting on the Right Foot

"Valera…" Keats barely said her name before she started to cry. Maxine Valera put aside her testing and placed a comforting arm over her shoulder.

"What happened, K.J.?" She stroked her arm and tried to wipe the tears off her face with a tissue. Natalia stood by her side, wondering how to help in the situation.

"Berkeley…he's going to ruin Ryan's career…if I don't sleep with him…" She managed to choke out through her sobs. Natalia's eyes narrowed. She promptly excused herself from the DNA lab, leaving Keats in the care of Valera.

"Relax, K.J. Berkeley doesn't have enough power to damage the rep of a CSI. He's just a minnow swimming in a pool of sharks." She said, testing out an interesting metaphor. Keats looked up at her.

"What is Ryan?" She asked. Valera thought for a bit.

"A barracuda?" She suggested. Keats laughed through her tears. She hugged Valera, hoping that in time she'd be able to repay her kindness.

Berkeley watched Ryan cross-examine the Captain, cunningly drawing a confession out of him. The Captain admitted to the crime, shouting his declaration of guilt in a fury. Ryan left the rest to the suits and headed out of the interrogation room.

Berkeley leaned against the wall, checking his watch periodically and waiting for Keats' shift to end. Ryan passed by him as Natalia was approaching, using quick and angry little steps.

"Where the hell do you get off being such a pig?" She said. Ryan stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"What are you insinuating, Natalia?" Berkeley asked with a grin. Natalia Boa Vista's eyes flashed.

"You're blackmailing Keats into having sex with you."

"Natalia…I appreciate your concern over Remington's welfare, but I'll thank you to stay out of my business." He said as he headed down the hall.

Ryan reared back and gave Berkeley a punch that sent him crashing to the ground.

"You son-of-a-bitch." He sputtered. The side of his mouth carried a slight dribble of blood. Natalia stared at Ryan in shock.

"Nice right hook you got there." She said.

"What the hell is going on?" Calleigh Duquesne walked primly down the hall, a vision of refinement in an otherwise disorderly setting.

Ryan and Natalia looked at each other, wondering how to go about explaining the matter at hand.

"I was attacked by one of your agents." Jake said, picking himself off the floor.

"He was trying to bribe K.J. with sexual intent." Natalia murmured, her eyes cast downward.

"Detective Berkeley, your reputation here in the Crime Lab has not gone unnoticed. I'm going to forget all of this ever happened, but if there are any more incidents of this caliber, I'll be forced to take legal action." She gave him a stern look and continued on her way.

Jake Berkeley wiped his mouth with the corner of his sleeve and stormed off in a fury.

Ryan Wolfe sat by himself filling out the paperwork on the cruise murder. He hadn't felt like explaining himself to anyone. It was amazing how possessive he felt of Keats. _His_ Keats.

"Wrapping up the Reims case?" Eric Delko stood beside him, giving him a look that said he didn't care a rip about the closing of the Reims case.

"Don't start, Delko." Ryan muttered. Eric's lips tightened.

"You gotta watch your back, Wolfe. Berkeley is one of the worst cops in this department. He'd sell his grandmother for a raise." Delko replied, mildly annoyed that Ryan wasn't freely volunteering information.

Ryan grunted, trying to ignore Delko's words of advice. Delko refused to back off.

"Will you at least tell me what happened, so I know how to explain to Horatio why Berkeley has a fat lip?" He tried again. Ryan finally relented. He explained to him exactly what had conspired amongst the trio, leaving out absolutely nothing.

"You hit Berkeley because of Keats." He said a few moments after Ryan had finished relaying his side of the story. Ryan prepared himself to be reproached, but he was met with light laughter.

"…it's finally happened to stone-faced Wolfe." He said between chuckles.

"What are you talking about?" Ryan wondered. Eric shook his head.

"You got it bad and you don't even know it, man." He gave Ryan a slap on the back. Ryan watched him leave, thinking heavily about his last words.

He thought about earlier in the afternoon, the mid-day tryst he'd shared with Keats. He remembered almost whispering 'I love you.' And at first he thought he was just going along with the flow. She said it…then he said it…

And it suddenly occurred to Ryan that he hadn't just said it. He truly _meant_ it. The realization floored him.

Natalie made her way back to the DNA lab, confident that Jake Berkeley had learned his lesson. Keats stood in the doorway shyly, waiting for her approach.

"Natalia…I know we haven't gotten along that well. We sorta started off on the wrong foot…more like the wrong leg, actually…" Keats began to babble. Natalia listened, wondering where her train of thought was going.

"…I guess what I'm trying to say is…I'm really glad you stood up for me." Keats drove the point home by embracing her in a childlike hug.

Natalia staggered backward from the force and from the surprise, but she soon grew to like it. It was such a simple, touching gesture that she soon found herself returning the hug.

"No problem, K.J. Us girls have to stick together, right?" She said, in total disbelief that she had actually uttered those words. Sisterhood and girl power and all that stuff didn't exactly frost her cupcakes.

Keats figured she probably didn't mean it. It was obvious in the way her voice lost its usual confident edge. But Keats was happy to have made slight progress in her working and personal relationship with Boa Vista.


	37. Meet the Folks

**Happy Valentine's Day!!! In honor of St. Valentine's day, I'm going to lay off the angst for the next chapter or two and focus on the lovey-dovey, gooeyness of our two couples. If this is not your cup of tea, bear with me…I'll return to the regular crime-filled storylines soon enough.**

Jake Berkeley was not one to be outdone or humiliated. He vowed that Keats would pay for leaking the private details of their arrangement to the lab technicians. Jake was given the cold shoulder for the rest of the day.

To be honest, that suited him perfectly. He had never much cared for any of the CSIs anyway.

When Keats clocked out for the day, he clocked out as well. He'd have his time. Retribution was only natural.

Ryan escorted Keats to her car, keeping a keen eye out for Berkeley. He'd never trusted the bastard, and the recent events only confirmed his original suspicions.

"I was wondering…a while back you mentioned wanting to meet my family. They're still in town for a few more days, if you want to meet them for drinks at the hotel. I told them I'd meet them in half an hour." She offered.

It was an incredibly courageous move, and Ryan knew it.

"I don't mean to put you on the spot like that, I just wondered if you wanted to…it's really okay if you don't, but-" Ryan caught her face with his hand and smiled.

"Keats, I want to meet your family." He said. He led her to his car, an almost unspoken promise that she would stay at his apartment that night.

T.C. Remington and Ouida sat in a booth in the hotel's restaurant. They had decided drinks weren't enough of a send-off. A full-blown dinner was in order. Keats approached the table nervously.

_If they embarrass me, or even worse, him, then I think I'll jump in front of a bus…_

"Sweetheart…" T.C. squeezed his daughter tightly, suddenly turning his attentions to Ryan. He looked him up and down, nodding to himself.

"Are you engaging in sexual congress with my daughter?" He asked after Keats had started to relax. She then pointed her eyes toward the heavens and wondered how she'd manage to get through the evening.

"Tobias, don't be so blatantly obvious. It's none of your business, anyway." Grammy Remington said, shaking Ryan's hand warmly.

"You know, I have to be honest with you, Mr. Wolfe, I was worried about Keats for the longest time. Ever since that fiasco with Morgan, I never thought she'd go on a date again. With a man, at least." She said.

Keats wanted to crawl under the table and die.

"I had always assumed that Keats would be the one to marry first. Sloane was always flitting about from one man to another. Keats is an old-fashioned girl at heart." She continued. Ryan smiled a bit at her first statement.

Keats _had_ married first. He gave Keats a wink that made her heart jump.

"Well, anyway, the past is past. And present company happens to be enchanting." Ouida held up her wine glass and tossed it back ceremoniously.

After listening to her father and grandmother brag about her, tell awful stories about her, and express their concerns over her current life situation(s), she was more than ready to see her mother, brothers, and Aunt Roe.

Nearly two and a half hours later, Keats leaned her head against the seat of Ryan's hummer as he drove them to his apartment. She let herself doze off, murmuring softly in her sleep. The dinner had been tiring for her. She had been on the edge of her seat the entire time.

Ryan glanced over at her once in awhile, thinking her very adorable. When he parked his silver hummer, he went over to her side and lifted her out of the seat effortlessly. He carried her into his apartment and placed her on his bed.

He laid down beside her, running a finger over her rosy cheeks and lips.

"I'm in love with you, Keats." He whispered.

"Eric, you shouldn't have…" Natalia took the bouquet of fresh flowers from Eric Delko's hands. He arrived at her door clean shaven and looking rather spiffy, having promised to take her to dinner at a high class French restaurant.

"I wanted to. You did a good thing for Remington…I just wanted to let you know I think you're wonderful." He said, flashing an uncertain grin. Natalia's knees weakened.

"Oh, it was nothing." She said modestly.

At the restaurant they talked of many things. One thing they never discussed, however, was the future. It was a silent agreement that they were taking things slowly. Painfully slow, Natalia thought.

But she would wait forever for Eric.

Keats woke up during the night, flashbacks from the dinner floating across her mind. But she was soon comforted when she realized Ryan's arms were around her.

_I love how this feels. No matter what happens for the rest of my life, I'm happy right now._

She kissed him, snuggled under his chin, and dreamt the rest of the night.


	38. Miami is for Lovers

"Delko, I'm no good on boats!" Natalia cried as Eric lifted her up into a sharp-looking sailboat.

"Natalia, this is the Sloop Poseidon's Pride. My friend Max said I could sail her around for awhile." Eric took his place at the helm, having pulled the anchor, and arranged the masts to collect optimum windspeed.

Natalia sat near the front of the deck, thoroughly impressed. His knowledge and ardent passion for sailing was a hidden talent she hadn't known existed. It was refreshing to see him in another arena altogether.

"Do you feel that?" Eric said, closing his eyes as they left the marina. Natalia gave a curious shrug.

"The wind…it's good today. This is the perfect day to cruise." He remarked with a smile. Natalia finally noticed the wind, the rush of it flowing through her hair. The waters sparkled beneath the bright Miami sun.

The Bay of Biscayne had never looked better, Natalia thought. Sure, she had traveled to Fisher Island on a private ferry to visit her grandparents a few times, but something about sailing…or perhaps something about sailing with Eric Delko, made the trip that much more memorable.

Keats undressed and stepped into Ryan's shower. It was spotless, as was every other square inch of his apartment. _Good thing he only saw my room in the dark…it's messier than messy._

She slipped under the hot water, tying her hair up so it wouldn't get wet.

"Need any help in there?" Ryan asked, knocking on the door. Keats froze. Sure, she had slept with him, but that didn't mean she was comfortable parading her naked body in front of him.

"No." She managed to squeak out. She began to hurry, afraid that he would come in anyway to tease her. She rinsed off and stepped out, glancing around for a towel.

"Keats…do you need a towel?" Ryan asked outside the door_. He set me up, the dirty dog!!! _

Keats hopped back into the shower, pulling the curtain around her body.

"Sure. Could you hand me one?" She asked, more than a bit mortified. Ryan strode through the door, setting a towel on top of the sink near the door. Ryan walked a bit further and stood near the trembling shower curtain.

"Thanks." She said, wondering if he'd take the hint. Ryan remained where he was.

"Well, aren't you going to get the towel?" He asked, standing between Keats and her towel.

"Yeah, but not while you're standing there." She replied. Ryan gave a knowing smile, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Is it _that_ big a deal?" He asked. Keats nodded emphatically.

"Then I guess it wouldn't be such a good idea if you moved in with me." He said as he left the bathroom with a grin. Keats smacked her forehead in frustration.

_Not fair. He was testing me!_

"You mean you were actually gonna ask me that?" She yelled after him. Ryan's head poked around the door.

"We're married, Keats. It's not right that we live under separate roofs." He explained. Keats nearly jumped for joy.

"But eventually you're going to need to get over this shyness." He added, getting closer and closer. Keats tightened the curtain around her instinctively. Ryan rolled his eyes and took his shirt off.

"What in blue blazes are _you_ doing?" Keats asked. Ryan continued to shed clothing as though he hadn't heard her. Keats closed her eyes before he was completely naked. She felt Ryan tug at the curtain and bit her lip.

"Do you mind, Keats? It's my turn to shower." He said, stepping behind the curtain. Keats made a mad dash for the towel, but Ryan latched onto her elbow. He pulled her back in, the pelts of hot water cascading down her back.

Before she could think to be self-conscious, he pressed her against him, running his lips across her wet shoulders. She kissed him teasingly, shying away at just the right moment until he was sufficiently angered.

When she finally did kiss him without backing off, she punctuated it by bounding out of the shower. She wrapped the towel around herself in a hurry and gave the toilet a hearty flush.

"Mr. Wolfe, I do declare! I never shower with _married_ men!" She said in a thick, mocking southern drawl.

"Eric, it's so beautiful." Natalia murmured, gazing over the side of the Poseidon's Pride. He had taken her to a place where the water was clear and blue enough to see to the very bottom. It was breathtaking.

"Um…Nat…I have some bad news." Eric said, glancing up at the sails. Natalia's eyes widened.

"We're not sinking, are we?" She asked in terror. Delko laughed.

"The wind died down. It looks like we're stuck here for awhile." He got up and went behind the helm, grabbing a few things from a large bag.

"Here. I was going to wait until we went to the beach later, but now is as good a time as any." He handed her a tall crystal glass, uncorking a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne.

"Eric…it's so expensive." Natalia said. Eric filled both glasses and clinked them together.

"I wonder when the wind will come back…" He said, mildly disappointed that his special date with Natalia hadn't gone as planned.

"I don't think I care if it ever comes back." Natalia whispered, inching her lips closer to Eric's. The kiss was one that made Delko think that even if the date _had_ been changed, it definitely wasn't for the worst.


	39. Infidelity in Suburbia

Ryan Wolfe filed his paperwork, heading toward his hummer in order to process the next crime scene. He passed Keats along the way and glared at her.

"What?" She asked defensively. She was shrugging as if she had no earthly idea why he would have a bone to pick with her.

"I have third-degree burns from that shower this morning." He said. Keats gave a sheepish smile.

"You shouldn't have been teasing me." She exclaimed defiantly. Ryan rolled his eyes and headed toward the Miami Dade parking lot.

Alexx Woods examined the two inert bodies lying side by side, covered in grass and mulch. They had been buried behind a tree, soon to be discovered by a young couple going for a walk in the park.

"The male was shot once, the female at least three times…I can feel the exit wounds on the back of her skull." She took a step back and thought it quite eerie that the woman had been posed near the man, lying on his arm in some macabre, romantic way.

"This is actually making me uneasy, Horatio. Finding vics like this? It denotes the presence of a sociopath or something similar." She knelt down beside the bodies, giving them once last look-over before they were photographed and transported to the morgue.

"Hold on, Alexx. There's some sort of business card." Ryan picked up the card between his gloved hands and placed his camera to the side.

"Reverend Hal Edwards, Episcopal Church of St. Mary." He said, reading the card aloud.

Horatio peered around the tree and bagged a shell casing and a two-foot long lead pipe. The case was beginning to look like a Parker Brothers crime game.

Alexx slipped on her medical attire upon returning and immediately went to examine the bodies of her latest victims in the morgue. Horatio stood by, a thin veil of curiosity marked on his face.

"This couple has been dead for at least a day or two." She murmured.

"Which doesn't make sense, because in a well-populated area like the park, their corpses would have been reported sooner…" Horatio said.

"Do you think the bodies were just ignored? Or were they planted?" Alexx mused.

"Calleigh, what have you got for me on the bullet shell?" Ryan entered the ballistics lab with high expectations.

Calleigh handed him a report and picked up the shell with her tweezers.

"It's a .32 cal. Matches the wounds on the female victim." She rotated the casing in her hand as Ryan browsed through the reports.

Horatio entered the lab that Keats was occupying, trying her best to ignore her shadow detective. He stood in front of her with a stack of papers.

"Since Delko and Boa Vista are out for the day, I'd like you to investigate the personal circumstances surrounding this case. If anyone can build a scenario out of scratch, it's you." He handed her the papers.

Berkeley flinched, as though trying to find a reason why she shouldn't be able to perform the task at hand. He couldn't think of a single one.

Keats typed in most everything she thought would be useful in the case, noting with interest that the man known as the Reverend Hal Edwards was found dead beside a woman that _wasn't_ his wife.

"So the dead man is really Reverend Edwards? Interesting." Jake mumbled, his mouth full of potato chips. Keats gave a hefty sigh.

"If I wanted to interview the late spouses of each victim…" Keats began, wanting desperately for Jake to give her the greenlight. He was almost more of a boss to her than Horatio was. _More bossy, anyway._

"Well…that should be okay. As long as you don't tamper with a single piece of evidence." He said, gulping down a bottle of soda. Keats smiled.

"And as long as I go with you." He added. Keats frowned.

They pulled up near a shabby-looking house on the outskirts of Miami in Jake's Escalade. Keats hadn't wanted to pursue any questioning after she heard the terms, but Jake had practically dragged her with him to the house of the widow Edwards.

"Can I help you?" A middle-aged woman answered the door, pushing open the screen with one hand. She looked quite classy, definitely the sort of woman that would be married to a respected clergyman. But the house didn't match.

"I realize that you may not be in the most receptive of moods, but I'd like to ask a few questions if you don't mind." Keats said. The woman nodded, apparently not as upset as one would believe of a bereaved wife.

"…Jill Hughes. We had been friends for quite some time. I even took her to the hospital for checkups after she'd had her surgery." Gina Edwards said, her voice sounding remote and cold.

"You weren't aware of the Reverend's extra-marital relationship?" Keats asked.

"No. I trusted him. And moreover I had trusted her. She was one of my best friends." She blinked, her eyes blank and emotionless.

"Can you remember what happened the day before the murder?"

"Naturally. I was making candies and I took a call from Jill. She asked to leave a message for my husband. When he came home at six that evening, I relayed the message. She called twice after that, and the Rev. decided to go and check on her. She said she was having some problems.

"Later I went to bed. I wasn't worried…sometimes ministering calls for him to be gone until late. But when I woke up at three in the morning the next day, he hadn't come home, yet. I called my brother, Wilson, to go to the church with me to find him.

"Then we went to Jill's place. No one was there, either. It was at that time that I suspected they may have gone off together." Mrs. Edwards finally finished.

After a few more questions, Keats and Jake left the premises, walking back to his Escalade.

"This is odd. Both Mrs. Edwards and Jill's late husband, Ronald Hughes, claimed ignorance about the affair. But several church members said they had been seeing each other for four years…what the hell is going on in suburbia these days?" Keats mumbled, climbing into the passenger seat.

Jake glanced over at her, giving her a wry smile. He put the car in gear and sped down the road.

He parked in an abandoned lot overlooking the beach. Keats felt uneasy and wished that someone else could have come along.

"Jake…I don't know what you expect to achieve by getting me alone like this…but it ain't happenin', pal." She muttered, trying to open the door. Jake pushed the power locks.

"I told you to be discreet about our arrangement, did I not?" He said, running a hand across the side of his five o'clock shadow.

Keats folded her arms around her chest, glaring him down.

"I take it you actually expect me to go through with it, don't you? Listen, blab all you want to about my relationship with Ryan. I don't care anymore." She jerked at the door, nearly ripping off the handle.

"Calm down, Remington. I won't hurt you. Unless you want me to, that is. Some girls are into that stuff." He grinned.


	40. Struck Down

Keats started to kick at the windows, making small cracks near the top. Jake pulled her into his lap, pinning down her legs.

"This car is expensive, Remington. Don't do that." He said. But instead of forcing himself onto her, he opened his door and gently pushed her out.

"I was just going to take you to question another suspect. The prosecutor said that the bullet wounds on the body displayed skilled marksmanship. Guess whose brother is a retired exhibition marksman?" Jake asked.

"The Reverend's wife?" Keats asked in disbelief. Jake was proving to be somewhat helpful.

They traveled the twenty or so paces down the beach to a condo belonging to Dean Stryker, the widow Edward's brother.

Ryan examined the reports of the autopsy, scratching his chin thoughtfully. Calleigh wandered into the lab, glancing over his shoulder.

"Any luck?" She asked him. He shrugged.

"I don't know…where's the wonder duo?" He asked, suddenly wondering why he hadn't seen Keats all day.

"They're questioning a few suspects."

"Together? Alone? There's a crime waiting to happen." Ryan rubbed the back of his neck.

"Berkeley might be a jerk, but he wouldn't do anything to screw up his position in the department." Calleigh said.

"I'll take your word for it." He murmured, looking back over the photos of the victims.

Keats knocked on the door, noting with mild trepidation that all the shutters had been drawn as soon as she had approached the condo. Berkeley pulled his jacket aside, placing his right hand on his weapon.

"Mr. Stryker?" Keats knocked on the door again. The door swung open and a man with a sawed-off shotgun took aim at Berkeley's hand, sending a bullet into his open palm. Keats grasped for her handgun, only to have Stryker's shotgun shoved dangerously close to the flesh between her eyes.

"Drop it." He said. Keats undid the clasp and let the handgun fall. She held her hands up in surrender.

"Don't even think about running, hotshot. I can knock a bottle of beer off a fence a mile away." Dean Stryker bragged. Keats would have rolled her eyes if she'd had the nerve. Berkeley sat down on the steps of the condo, leaning against the banister.

His hand was trembling, the lodged bullet shining against the bright red backdrop of blood.

"Do I have to kill you bastards to get you to leave me alone?" Stryker shouted. Keats shook her head slowly, calmly. Now was not the time to lose her head. _Even though I'd love nothing more than to run screaming down the beach._

"No, Mr. Stryker. We just want to question you about the deaths of Hal Edwards and Jill Hughes." She said. Stryker reloaded his shotgun.

"You think I did it, don't you?" He cried, his voice harsh and broken.

"Let me call an ambulance for my friend, here, and we'll discuss it." Keats answered, losing much of her patience.

"Not if you're dead." He mumbled, heaving the barrel of the gun into the side of her neck. Keats staggered backward, sprawling across the steps, unconscious.

Jake Berkeley stared in horror at Keats' lifeless body, barely aware of Dean Stryker's semi-automatic pistol emerging from his back pocket.

Horatio came into the ballistics lab just as Ryan and Calleigh were finishing up examining the latest shells from the crime scene.

"I was just thinking. I haven't gotten a call from Berkeley or Ms. Remington, lately. Wolfe? If you wouldn't mind heading over to the suspect's condo…" He said. Ryan took off running, fear darkening his face.

He shed his lab coat, grabbed a few necessities from his locker, then bolted toward the M.D.P.D. parking area.

Stryker pointed the gun toward Berkeley's face, loading the clip. Keats' eyes fluttered, coming to focus on Stryker's outstretched hand. She drowsily grabbed onto her own gun, cocking it as quietly as possible.

She felt the gun kick and cringed as Stryker's blood dripped onto her arm. Stryker finally looked at her. His eyes bored right into hers, startling her with their lack of emotion; their lack of depth_. It's like he doesn't give a damn that I just gunned him down._

Stryker gave a strange sort of smile, kneeling where he had once stood only moments before. He eventually came to rest on his back, his eyes closing.

Keats sat up, checking herself and Berkeley for any other injuries. She tore part of her shirt and wrapped it around his hand, careful not to embed the bullet any deeper than it already was.

"Remington requesting for immediate backup…" She gave them the address and told them to send an ambulance as well. After hanging up, she glanced over at Jake Berkeley, giving him a smile of good-natured condescension.

"Thanks, Remington. You really saved my ass." He winced, groaning in pain. Keats brushed it off modestly, patting him on the shoulder with reassuring kindness.

After several minutes, she heard the sirens abound. She stood and prepared to meet them, but no sooner had she taken one step than she felt a sharp pain in her back. She collapsed onto the sand, a hot bullet burning a hole near her spine.


	41. Keep Wearing Belts

Ryan pulled up near the condo amid the flurry of squad cars and ambulances. He got out and slammed his door shut, scared out of his mind. He pulled aside a random cop and asked him about the commotion.

"The suspect opened fire." He replied hurriedly, running off to report to a superior. Ryan ran a hand through his hair, wondering how to find Keats amid the chaos of cops and paramedics.

"CSI Wolfe!" He heard someone shout. He turned to the sound and saw Det. Berkeley run toward him, his hand wrapped in thick gauze.

"Berkeley, what happened to Keats?" He said. He could feel his heart racing.

"She's on her way to the hospital. Capt. Erickson has offered to escort us there."

"I appreciate the offer, Detective, but tell Erickson that I can't wait." Ryan said as he ran to his hummer.

Ryan arrived at the hospital in record time. His steps sounded harsh to his own ears. They were brisk and unsure, a perfect reflection of his inner emotions. He bounded up to the front desk, barking questions left and right.

"Can you tell me anything about her condition?" He asked. He felt helpless, ready to climb the walls. The excess adrenaline in his system made him want to pace endlessly. He rubbed his mouth nervously, scraping a hole in the linoleum with his constant treading.

"Officer Wolfe, I'm Dr. Livingstone." An elderly man with a pair of tortoise-shell glasses shook his hand and opened a patient file.

"Ms. Remington is going to be fine. We were concerned at first that the bullet was lodged in the lumbar region of her vertebral column, but it only did surface damage. Tell her to keep wearing belts, though. That's what saved her life."

When he was finally permitted to see her less than an hour later, Ryan walked into hospital room 208 with a dozen roses under one arm, purchased from the hospital gift shop. He noticed Keats wasn't in bed.

"Remington, what are you doing?" He asked. Keats was pulling on her slacks, trying to tug the IV out of her arm.

"I'm not staying in here, that's for sure," she mumbled, "And who are you calling Remington? You're always so quick to tell me that I'm Mrs. Wolfe."

"Whoever you are, you need to stay here until you're discharged." He said, latching onto her arm before she ran out of the room. He hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her back to the bed.

"But I don't want to." She said in a tiny voice. Her back stung like the dickens but surely convicting the man who shot her would take her mind off of it. It was definitely too logical for someone like Ryan to understand.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed impatiently.

"Keats, I'll chain you to the bed if I have to." Ryan said, grabbing her legs and placing them back on the bed. Keats smiled coyly.

"So do it." She said, kissing him gently. He guided her closer, his hand at the back of her neck. Keats soon broke away, tottering off to find her pants.

"Chains are the only thing that's going to keep me from Miami Dade." She said triumphantly, hopping into her black slacks. Ryan wrapped his arms around her waist, preventing her from her ultimate goal. Her pants dropped in a pool at her ankles.

"Dammit, Wolfe. Why do you have to be so…" She whirled around and kissed him with fervor, amazed at the powerful chemistry between them. She had never experienced this with anyone. She ended the kiss with a sigh, hopping back into bed.

Horatio Caine tapped lightly on the door of room 208. His young charge had been injured in the line of duty and was more than ready to come back for more. Nothing could have made him prouder.

"June. I appreciate your tenacity. But I'm afraid that the hospital wants you to take it easy for awhile. They want you bedridden for the next week or so." He said, sitting near the edge of her hospital bed.

Ryan stood in the corner, absorbing the information for himself. He knew Keats was disinclined to listen_. Bedridden? Me? Whatever happened to just taking it easy doing lab work…_

"They'll let you go home, of course. But you're to stay home for 5-10 days. Spring Break is coming up, so I'm sure that'll leave you some time to relax…Get better, June. We need you back at the Lab." He ruffled her hair softly, in an almost paternal fashion.

He nodded toward Wolfe and headed out of the door, giving one last wave to Keats.

"As much as I respect everyone's opinion on the matter, I refuse to turn into a vegetable for a measly flesh wound!" She exclaimed. Ryan had since turned a deaf ear to her outspoken cries, doing his level best to distract her from such thoughts.

It wasn't easy. Keats was as stubborn as a mule.

After a few moments of Keats kicking furiously under the blankets, a nurse came in and told her she could go home.

Ryan stood behind her as Keats held up her hand near the reception desk. The nurse adjusted her glasses and snipped off her hospital bracelet, handing her the bill with a prim smile.

"Hospitals are so retro. Next time I get shot, I think I want a Shaman Priest to pray over me with a turtle-shell stick. It sure beats conventional medicine." She said. Ryan rolled his eyes and placed an arm around her waist as they walked to his silver hummer.

Keats was placed into bed, fussing and resisting all the way, until Ryan began undressing her with tender care. Keats leaned on her elbows with great interest.

"Don't you have to go back to work?" She murmured.

"Work can wait. I'm trying to give you some incentive to stay in the bed." He left a trail of kisses down her neck, working his way to her knees. He glanced up at her and rose from the bed, putting on his suit jacket.

"Save that thought, Keats. I'll be back in a few hours." He grinned, knowing exactly how furious he had made her. But he knew how to make it all better.

And he planned to do just that all night long.


	42. Peanut Butter Patty

**I hope no one forgot about you-know-who! It took me longer than I expected to get back to her, but she's finally going to make her grand debut in this very chapter. I hope you like her as much as I do!**

Keats heard a persistent knocking at the door, arousing her from a deep sleep. She assumed it was Ryan, wanting her to meet him at the door wearing nothing but his bed sheet.

She complied, stumbling to the door half-asleep. She opened it drowsily and plastered on her face what she hoped was a sensual smile.

"Great Scott, Jelly, what has Miami done to you?"

Keats stared in shock as her best friend, Patty Barrington, stood in the doorway.

"Peanut Butter!" She squealed with glee. She hugged her, beckoning for her to come inside.

"Nice setup. Do you have any idea how many people I had to go through to find this address?" She said, dropping her bags in the living room.

"How many?" She asked, parking herself on the sofa beside Patty.

"Let's just say I shook so many hands that half my skin cells disappeared…You weren't at _your_ apartment, so I went to the hotel that your grandma was staying at. She had already left, can you imagine? So I went to three different gas stations to find the address to the M.D.P.D.

And then when I got _there_ I met all of your team members, who told me you'd been shot. Which, by the way, is not a nice thing to say to a girl who can't find her best friend anywhere…and after pulling several shiny teeth…your CSI Delko is quite the stud…anyway, I finally managed to get _this_ address from a man who claimed to be your husband.

Now if there are any more surprises, Jelly, I'd like to hear them _now_ before I get too encumbered. Can I get a coke?" Patty leaned back, taking off her cap and fanning herself with it. Keats ran to the refrigerator and got Patty a can of cola.

She handed the coke to Patty, excusing herself to go change clothes.

"He seems nice. A little older than your age group, but hey, love is love, right? Plus, he seems way better than Morgan." She called to Keats from the living room. Keats returned and nodded, sitting beside Patty with girlish excitement.

"I can't believe it. My little Keats is actually training to be a cop. I remember it like it was yesterday…we were both playing with safety scissors and Jeffrey Pisgah took seven inches off your hair…

…you pitched a fit, wailing loud enough to wake the dead…" She murmured dreamily.

"Yeah, and then you cut yours off too so I wouldn't be the only one with an asymmetrical haircut. Those were the days, right?" Keats finished, a hint of sentimentality in her voice.

"And we looked totally bitchin', might I add." She said, taking a healthy swig of coke.

Patty's hair was even shorter than Keats, coming to rest on her jawline in shiny coal-black layers. Patty was extremely tall, and thin as a yard stick, as Keats pointed out many times. The sight of the two of them together was quite…interesting, to say the least.

Also, their personalities were as different as night and day, making people wonder what they had in common. While Patty was the typical loudmouth bitch, Keats was the quieter and sweeter bookworm archetype.

"We sure did… So you went to the office? People saw you?" Keats asked incredulously. Patty nodded with a grin.

"I would rather have met them through you, but you left me no choice. I still can't get over the fact that you're married…I mean, wow. I assume you haven't told your family." She said, leaning on her elbow.

"How do you know?" Keats asked. It was true, of course, but not exactly common knowledge.

"If any of them knew, don't you think they'd be down here giving you the third degree?" She sipped her coke. Keats nodded.

"I haven't even thought about telling them. I wouldn't know how." She began, twirling her hair nervously.

"Relax, Jelly. You can just say that you didn't want to steal Garcia's thunder. They'll think you're so damn sweet, they'll forget how you lied to 'em." She smiled, chucking Keats on the chin. Well, it was more of a punch.

"I guess so." Keats replied. She wasn't in the habit of lying to loved ones.

"Hey, tell me about Eric Delko. He is _so_ fine." She squealed. Keats took a deep breath and tried to think. Patty was someone that went after what she wanted, regardless of the consequences.

"He is so _taken_. He's going out with my friend, Natalia, right now." Keats said. Patty gave a disappointed sigh.

"Are you sure?" She tried again. Keats raised an eyebrow.

"The last thing I need is to get back on bad terms with Boa Vista."

"Duly noted." Patty replied with a smirk.

Ryan unlocked the door to his apartment, walking into the living room with mild apprehension. His once immaculate living room was now covered in pizza boxes, magazines, soda cans, and tissues. A few DVD boxes lay scattered across the floor.

He closed his eyes, pretending that it was just a bad dream. He retreated to his bedroom, extremely grateful that it was just as he'd left it.

He dialed Delko's number, waiting impatiently for him to answer.

"Wolfe, what's up?" He heard Eric say. Ryan rubbed his eyes.

"I'm…kind of freaking out, right now. My place is a mess." He said.

"Heh. So Keats is an untidy housekeeper, I take it. That's the sort of thing you find out on the fourth or fifth date, man."

"Yeah, I know." He sighed. He noticed Keats standing in the doorway and quickly ended his conversation with Eric.

"I'm sorry about the living room. I'll clean it as soon as Patty wakes up." She said.

"Uh, no problem…you _do_ know I'm a compulsive cleaner, right?" He muttered, picturing the pile of clutter mounting higher and higher.

"I got a pretty good idea from the labels on your shampoos." Keats said sarcastically_. He asked me to move in with him, but what he really meant was: 'stay over when I'm in the mood.'_

"It's nothing personal, Keats." He stood in front of her, playing defense.

"I'm not offended. I just realized that maybe you're not ready for me to move in with you." She replied. Ryan glared at her.

"What part of OCD do you not understand?" He asked, his voice rising.

"I guess none whatsoever. Which is why I'm getting out of here." She mumbled, grabbing her overnight bag and a few other things.

"Where are you going?" He asked, holding onto her arm.

"My disorderly friend and I are going back to my apartment. At least there we won't be persecuted by the Cleanliness Nazi." She said, wrenching out of his grip.

"Did you just call me a Nazi?" He asked in disbelief. Keats left the bedroom, waking up her friend and high-tailing it out of there before she could answer him.


	43. Unorthodox Cop

Keats tossed and turned in her own bed. She'd gotten so used to sleeping beside Ryan, it was pathetic.

But she wasn't alone by any means. Patty was sleeping beside her, having held Keats as she cried herself to sleep.

"This is what happened with what's-his-face. We started out fine and then we began to fight all the time…this is _just_ like that, Patty." She cried over both pains, from the past and the present, and tried to tell herself that their fight was a sign.

"Are you kidding me, Jelly? Ryan seems like a great guy. And don't get mad at me or anything…I mean, I did happen to be awake and all…I think you deliberately picked a fight with him." She said when Keats had calmed down a bit.

"Why would I do that?" Keats sniffed. Matters of the subconscious were Patty's specialty, seeing as she was a current Psych major.

"You're afraid. Duh…it's a little late in the game to be sitting on the fence. If you're going to stay in this marriage, then you need to work at it. But make up your mind, for Crissakes." She mumbled, settling into the pillow.

"Should I call him? Is it too soon, you think?" Keats blew her nose in a tissue and grabbed her cell phone. Patty rolled her eyes.

"That's a definite possibility. Not long ago you accused him of belonging to the Third Reich. I don't think even _I_ have said that to a guy that before. And you know how many insults I've slung around." Patty said, taking the cell from Keats.

Patty rocked her to sleep, much like she did when they were younger.

Ryan sat opposite from Dean Stryker, the man that had nearly taken Keats' life.

"In the eyes of the law, Mr. Stryker, you're looking extremely guilty. Care to explain your actions?" Ryan ran his fingers over his lower lip, gauging his guilt.

"I did what I had to do. They were trespassing on my private property." Stryker shifted in his chair, obviously under the assumption that he had no business being taken into police custody.

"This has nothing to do with the fact that your sister is a prime suspect in a murder case." Ryan countered.

"Absolutely not. She didn't touch them." He spat.

"So you're admitting that you're the guilty party…" Ryan let the sentence hang. Stryker's eyes became aglow with fury.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" He shouted. Ryan rose out of his chair, leaning over the table.

"You almost killed my wife, Stryker. Do you mean to sit there and tell me you have no shame in what you did?" His voice was calm, his gaze steady.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. If I had it to do over, I would have taken a better shot." He smiled, showing a set of grimy yellow teeth. Ryan nodded toward the cops outside the door, watching with satisfaction as they took him away.

He sat back in his chair, wondering if he should call Keats and tell her he missed her. He hadn't been able to sleep at all the previous night. So what if she was messy? He was still in love with her.

Keats sat at her computer, running over the files of the Edwards-Hughes murder. The police had already assumed it was Stryker that murdered Jill Hughes and Hal Edwards. She yawned, glancing over a few news articles featuring Dean Stryker, the champion marksman. Winner of tournaments, target events, blah, blah…

His latest public appearance was a three-day competition in Daytona Beach pavilion. She checked the date of the contest, discovering it to be during the approximate time of death of the victims. _There is no possible way that he committed the murder._

"Delko? It's Remington. I know that I'm not allowed to come to work, so I'll just pass on this bit of info. Dean Stryker is _not_ the killer." Keats said, dressing in jeans and a striped t-shirt. She could hear Delko sigh over the phone.

"How do you know? We've got no other leads." He replied.

"Remember that gut instinct of mine that most everyone trusts? Well, it led me to find out Stryker has a solid alibi. I'll tell you more when I find out more."

Keats hung up, jamming her cell in the back pocket of her jeans. Patty was still asleep, so she left her a note. She then headed out the door, on her way to visit the widow Edwards.

"Who was that?" Calleigh asked. She glanced at Eric with her hand on her hip.

"Remington. She said that Stryker's not our guy." He murmured. Ryan shook his head, wondering if she'd ever grasp the idea of _rest_.

"That's it?" He mumbled skeptically. Keats usually said more than that.

"She said she'd tell me more when she found out more. Her exact words." Delko replied. Coming from Keats, that was not a good thing.

"Did she say what she was going to do?" Ryan took out his cell phone and dialed her number, not waiting for an answer from Eric.

"What do you want?" Keats picked up her phone, annoyed at the voice on the other end.

"You're on vacation, Keats. Let us finish the case." Ryan said.

"Suit yourself. Just thought you should know that Mrs. Edwards was the one that taught her brother how to use a firearm. Ciao."

Ryan stared at the phone in his hand, suddenly piecing together all parts of the case. Keats was simply amazing.

"How dare you imply that I killed my husband…" Mrs. Edwards set down her glass of iced tea and patted her hair indignantly.

"Forgive me if I don't altogether rule that out as a possibility. Think about what it looks like…the cheating husband, the best friend, the fact that your brother is walking on eggshells, your extensive background in -"

"I know what it looks like. Be that as it may, all of it is just…circumstantial. I didn't know for sure they were having an affair until _after_ they were dead."

Keats gave a small nod, trying to put her at ease lest she go crazy like Stryker.

"May I remind you that I'm here off-duty. This has nothing to do with my job. Anything I find out now is strictly to satisfy my curiosity." She murmured, sipping her iced tea. She played a bit with her lemon, glancing at the widow's clothing.

"Ah, yes. You're not even a real police woman, are you? That can't be helped, I suppose." She gave a tight smile, delivering her underhanded remark with winning subtlety.

"Exactly. I'm not even certified, yet. So there's no need to worry."

"Worry? Why should I be worried?" She asked, crossing her left leg over her right. _Left side dominance…Jill's throat was slashed from right to left suggesting a left-handed murderer._

"No reason. But, boy, whoever it was, they really did a number on Jill. The Reverend was simply shot once. Jill was shot multiple times, had several contusions on the back of her head from a lead pipe, and had her throat cut.

They must have really _hated_ her, you know." Keats exclaimed, taking a huge bite out of a sugar cookie. Mrs. Edwards pursed her lips together.

"You are the most unorthodox cop I've ever met, Ms. Remington." She said.


	44. The Loveable Jerk

Keats smiled at Mrs. Edwards. Winifred Sue Edwards. _Winnie_...

"Are you a South Paw, Mrs. Edwards?" Keats wondered. She played up the fact that Winnie must have thought her one stupid CSI. She donned a silly grin, shoving some more cookies in her mouth.

Better for Winifred to think her incompetent. Secrets came more easily in the company of idiots, Keats knew.

"Well, yes." She murmured, finding a good laugh at Keats' table manners.

"Makes it pretty hard to buy scissors and oven mitts and stuff, huh?" She asked, leaning her chin on her fist. Winifred nodded slowly.

"I heard that only specialty shops make those kinds of…things." Keats stared at the ceiling with her mouth open. _Am I overdoing it? Nah._

"Yes, they do. But I go to Jason Bachman. He's a left-handed gunsmith and he makes all sorts of lefty doo-dads." Winifred said, warming up to conversation.

"Cool. I had a guy once that made me a belly-button whistle, but unfortunately he thought I was an outie. I played it at the talent show…HUGE disaster. The reviews of my performance were scathing."

"I can imagine." Winifred mumbled. She had since finished her iced tea.

"Do you want me to help with the dishes?" Keats asked kindly. Winifred gave a small shrug, pushing her empty glass toward her. Keats picked it up near the bottom, gathering her own dishes as well.

She brought them into the kitchen, setting them down on the counter. Then, with all the speed of a mouse running from a cat, Keats transferred Winifred's fingerprint from the glass to the special piece of tape she'd brought with her.

She shoved it in her pocket, coming back into the dining room.

"Let me ask you a question, if your husband did something to really piss you off…wouldn't you try to even the score?" Winifred asked, dropping the pious act.

_What a funny question. _

"It depends on what you call evening out the score…" Keats said.

"Nice try. But he just made me so mad! For twenty some years, I've been his rock. He's willing to trade all of our years together for some bible-hopping tramp."

"When my guy makes me mad…I call him on it. My fault, his fault, it doesn't really matter. He crosses me, I make him pay." Keats said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Me too. But the law doesn't understand that."

"Are you saying that you knew about the affair before they were murdered?" Keats asked. Winifred nodded.

"You know, if I knew I could get away with it…there are a couple of people _I'd_ like to see six feet under." Keats looked into Mrs. Edwards eyes.

"I am. And I did." She whispered loudly. Keats smiled, taking her cell phone out of her pocket.

"Did you get that, H?" She said into the receiver. Mrs. Edwards gasped angrily.

"You said that you were off work. You said -"

"I guess that makes us both liars, now doesn't it?" Keats patted her on the shoulder, a sympathetic smile on her face.

"He was my whole world! And he was ready to leave me like _that_." Winifred snapped her fingers, tears rushing to the corners of her eyes.

Keats wrapped her in a warm hug, letting her get tears and other things on her shirt. Mrs. Edwards was quite compliant, and Keats felt incredibly sorry for her.

Keats watched as the cops took Mrs. Edwards away. It was a hollow victory. Sometimes the bad guys weren't all bad. It wasn't as easy as black and white or good and bad. There was a whole gray area for people like Winifred Edwards.

"Keats, I thought I told you we'd take care of this." Ryan said, suddenly standing beside her. Keats glared at him.

"What? No 'thanks for closing it for us'? Screw you, Wolfe." Keats muttered.

"I have no objections to that." He gave a wry smile. Keats wrinkled her nose.

"I'm sure you wouldn't. The fact is, you're a jerk. I married a _jerk_." Keats turned to face him, her hands on her hips.

"Sorry about that. Too bad you love me anyway." Ryan grinned. Keats could feel invisible steam streaming from her nostrils.

"You…argh." Keats fists were clenched, her whole body tense. Every single nerve ending was heightened, her senses on the edge.

Ryan ran a thumb along her lower lip. It was infuriating to be so mad and so aroused at the same time. He then traced a finger around the skin of her lips.

"Kiss me already, you bastard." Keats said, bringing her mouth clumsily into his own. Just because they were having a fight didn't mean that she should go without his kisses. Detective Berkeley cleared his throat and Keats broke away from Ryan.

"Good job, babe." He said, slipping a hand around her waist. Ryan pulled her closer to him, glowering at Jake Berkeley.

"I wouldn't be so unpleasant, if I were you, Wolfe. I _am_ the one who'll decide whether or not Remington is fit to be a CSI."

"That doesn't mean I'm going to kiss your boots, Jake. We do things a little differently in the Lab." Ryan came quite close to Berkeley's face.

"Oh?" Berkeley taunted.

"Watch yourself. It could be the smartest move you ever make."

"Look who's talking about smart moves, Wolfe. The next time you get married, you might want to make sure that the priest is actually certified." He said, turning away. Ryan put a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" He asked. Keats bit her lip. _I'm not really married to Ryan? I've been playing house this whole time and none of it was real?_

"The guy who supposedly 'married' you? I did a little research. His ministerial license is a fake." Berkeley said, shrugging out of Ryan's grasp. Ryan let him walk away, not knowing what to do. He avoided looking at Keats, afraid of what she might say.

"He's probably right. Anyone who marries people without making them take a blood test is definitely unhinged." Keats joked. Ryan did not laugh.

"Keats…" He began. She stopped him with a tiny sigh.

"I'm fine, Ryan. It's fine. Look on the bright side, at least you get your place back. I won't be messing it up, anymore." She said, trying to make it sound like she was happy.

"What if I don't want my place back? Maybe I like it with a little mess."

"Don't be a jackass. Just the other night you asked me if I even knew what OCD meant. Well it means absolutely no mess. Not even a little." Keats said.

"I don't care if we're not married anymore, Keats. I love you. And you're moving in with me. And that's the end of it." Ryan covered her mouth with his own to prevent her from arguing.


	45. Clowning Around

Ryan sat up in bed, panting heavily. He clutched his left eye, grimacing in pain. Keats sat up beside him, squinting in the dark.

"Ryan…what's the matter?" She mumbled sleepily. Ryan shook his head.

"Nothing, Keats. Go back to sleep."

Ryan padded softly into his kitchen, getting a glass out of the cupboard. He filled it with water, gulping it down swiftly. This wasn't the first time he had woken up because of his eye, but somehow this time was a little different.

There was more pain.

He had been fine for awhile…he could see quite well, as a matter of fact. His sight would never be the way it used to be, but as long as Ryan could still function at work, that was all that mattered.

Keratitis…it was just a rumor. But now even Ryan wasn't so sure that it was just a rumor anymore.

"So what are your plans for the day?" Ryan asked, donning a tie in front of his bedroom mirror. Keats stared at his reflection from the bed jovially.

"Patty and I are going to go to a movie. Maybe the zoo. We haven't really decided, yet." She murmured, her head off in space. Ryan grinned.

"The Amazing Keats Remington does regular civilian things like going to the movies. Fancy that." He smirked. Keats threw a pillow at him.

"She's really happy that she has my apartment all to herself. She insists that I stay over from now on." Keats said. Ryan turned around and gazed into her eyes.

"I thought that's what we agreed on doing." He said. Keats tried to hide the surprise on her face by nodding.

"Yeah. I was just saying…"

"You don't have second thoughts, do you?" He asked. He sat next to her on the bed, holding onto her arm with gentleness.

"No. But whenever you realize that this was a bad idea, I'm going to rub it in your face that it was all YOUR bad idea." Keats giggled. She gave Ryan a goodbye kiss as he headed off to the Lab.

Keats stared into the cages belonging to the tigers. They were magnificent, beautiful creatures, but they had maintained a deadly reputation.

"Didn't a white tiger kill one of the Ringling Bros.?" Patty asked, slurping on an ice cream cone.

"That was Siegfried of Siegfried and Roy. And he's not dead, I don't think. But they tiger really screwed him over, I heard." Keats said, watching as the tigers prowled around instinctively.

"Were we going to catch their show? It goes on in, like, ten minutes." Patty pointed to her watch. Keats sighed and followed her into the dome, where Barnum and Bailey Circus were featured as honored guests at the zoo.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Berkeley. Keats is on leave and there's nothing you can really do to cause damage in the meanwhile." Ryan said, eyeing Jake as he entered the lab.

"Cut the crap, Wolfe. You've got something I want. I'm a man who always gets what he wants." He began. Ryan laughed.

"Too bad I'm not a man who just gives things away." He replied thinly.

"I tried to get her through persuasion. Special tactics, that sort of thing."

"Special tactics? You are something else, Berkeley, you know that?"

"…the one thing I haven't tried is going after her through you. Since you aren't married, it'll be easier for you to break it off with her." Berkeley said. Ryan shook his head.

"Keep talking, Berkeley. It'll never happen."

"Hear me out, Wolfe. I think you're a bargaining man. And this would be a rather even deal when all is said and done." He added. Wolfe said nothing.

"It's up to me whether Keats progresses in her chosen field. Sad but true. If you let her go, I'll make sure she gets top honors. If you don't…then I might just have to retain her." Berkeley said, leaning against the wall.

"You can't have that much power. It doesn't seem ethical." Ryan said in a soft voice. Jake Berkeley gave an ugly grin.

"Even if I did break up with her, she'd never go to you." Ryan mentioned, effectively ending the conversation.

But Jake was not one to be trifled with after all, it seemed.

"Oh, boy. Check out that elephant…" Keats said sarcastically. In all honesty, she preferred the dancing horses compared to the elephant that did nothing but poop onstage.

Patty, however, was pro-Dumbo all the way.

"Woo! That was awesome." Patty squealed as the lights dimmed. Keats sighed, hardly believing that her best friend was really Patty. They were so alike and yet so different.

"But the horses are sweet, too." She added. _Maybe we're not so different when the chips are down._

The horses filed out one by one, brilliantly white and elegant. They stood on their hind legs and did complicated legwork. The trainer worked diligently to get them to dance in correct formation.

Keats and Patty cheered loudly, ignoring the stares from children younger than they were. So what if they had never quite grown up? It was a good life when you could be easily entertained.

The horses did a few more impressive moves, the trainer leading them into the climax of the program.

Suddenly a shot rang out from backstage and the horses began to go hog wild.

The head horse bucked like crazy, knocking down his trainer with brute strength. The trainer rolled out of the way before his horses could trample him into the ground.

"Somebody killed the clown!" "Clippo got iced in his dressing room!"

Patty gave Keats a glance of sheer disbelief. Keats rolled her eyes.

"Since when did my job follow me to the circus?" Keats mumbled, munching on cotton candy.


	46. God's Gonna Cut You Down

Keats, not able to resist such a compelling urge, ran down to the area of the crime and began to ask questions to all the witnesses who came forward.

She talked to Zigg, Clippo's partner in the act, and found out that they had been having a dispute over who got the bigger cut of the funding.

"He was being a real prick, too. Said he was the star of the number. But lemme tell you something, babe: there ain't no show without me. If I didn't play straight man to his crazy clown garbage, his butt would be tossed into the nearest crapper." Zigg said.

"How long have you known Clippo?" Keats asked, wishing she'd brought something to write on.

"Like I said, his shit don't work without me. I trained him. He was real wet behind the ears when we first met about ten years ago. I took him under my wing. He was almost like a brother to me.

And then he has to go spouting lies to the boss man. I may be a lush, but at least I show up to work every once in awhile. Anyway, he started demanding a bigger cut."

"How big?" Keats pressed. Zigg frowned heavily.

"Why does it matter?" Zigg answered. Keats gave a grim smile.

"So I know how much of a motive you have. The higher the sum, the more the cops notice you. Just tell me a ball-park figure."

"He wanted 70 freakin' percent. That's more than _I_ got for having ten years seniority over him!" Zigg yelled, unintentionally making himself a bigger suspect than he already was.

"70 percent out of what, Zigg?" Keats asked. Zigg looked around to make sure no one was listening. When he was satisfied, he leaned close to Keats' ear.

"Seventy cut out of 200k." He whispered. Keats' eyes widened.

"A year?" She asked, incredulously. Zigg nodded.

"But you're a clown. I know doctors who make less than that!" She blurted out.

When the information had suitably digested, Keats continued her questioning wondering whether or not to switch careers before she walked the line.

"Why you so curious, anyway, sweets? You studying to be Nancy Drew?" He laughed like a donkey at his own joke. Keats faked a laugh in order to keep him in good humor.

"Sure. Nancy Drew…that's me, all right." Keats muttered. Zigg pointed to his dressing room five feet away and winked at her.

"Your partner was just killed." Keats exclaimed. Zigg shrugged.

"So what? Anyway, just because I have a pretty good motive doesn't mean I killed the son-of-a-bitch. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's dead and all…but I didn't do it." Zigg said with an angry face.

"That remains to be seen, Zigg. The evidence that the cops are going over right now will prove your innocence or cement your guilt." Keats told him.

"Have you ever heard the expression 'what's done in the dark will be brought to the light?'" Keats asked. Zigg nodded, somewhat enraged by the statement.

"That's from a Johnny Cash song…" He muttered.

"If you're lying to me, sooner or later God's gonna cut you down." Keats said in a condescending tone. Zigg ripped his red clown nose off and threw it to the ground with a grunt.

"Remington, how come whenever there's a crime, you always happen to be there?" Delko said with a smile.

"Seems a little bit suspicious, don't you think, Eric?" Calleigh told Delko with a mile-wide grin. They might not have admitted it, but they had sort of missed her.

"Oh, just taking it easy. Hanging out with circus folk and such. They're really interesting people, you know…" Keats murmured, not really knowing how to explain herself, even though she knew it wasn't needed.

Delko and Duquesne nodded, giving her reassuring pats on the back.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. You're not in trouble." Calleigh said. Keats gave a sigh of relief and nodded, leaving the rest of the questioning to the ones on duty.

Keats and Patty walked along a lonely street in the midday heat, carrying cups of colored ice and wishing that Miami weren't so damned hot.

"Should we go swimming?" Patty asked, her voice becoming weak.

"Sure…if we can make it." Keats groaned. They fell onto a bench and breathed heavily. Perhaps they would get to it when they gained their strength.

"I feel like we should be doing something. I leave the day after tomorrow and I want to make the most of the time we have left." Patty finally said.

Keats smiled at her friend lovingly. She put her arm around her and sighed.

"Peanut Butter…just hanging out is enough, isn't it? We don't need the circus, or the zoo, or the beach, or the movies. We're fine the way we are." Keats said.

After finally making it back to Keats' apartment, they collapsed on her sofa and more or less passed out.

Ryan looked over the documents and photos from the crime scene, mildly tickled by the fact that even a clown whose job was to bring joy to the masses, still had the drive to kill someone.

"I heard that Keats was terrorizing the clowns." Ryan murmured as Eric Delko sauntered up to his desk. Eric gave a small smile.

Somehow, ever since Keats had come to Miami Dade, it had made Eric and Ryan become better friends.

"She was born to do this job, man. It's in her blood, now." Delko said with a laugh. Ryan nodded in agreement.

Horatio had just finished questioning Zigg for the second time when he heard his cell phone ring impatiently. He reached for it quickly.

"H? Can I please help with the clown case? It's the most interesting one we've had since I've been there." Keats was on the verge of whining. Horatio smiled to himself.

"June, the doctor told you to take it easy. As soon as your friend Patty goes back to Sarasota, then you can come back to work."

"Fine." Keats sighed in surrender. The clown case might be wrapped up by then.

Suddenly, she thought of an idea. An idea that would allow her to work on the case anyway.

Patty noticed the gleam in her eye and gave her a sharp slap on the back of her head.

"Don't even think about it, dumbass. Rules is rules."


	47. The Goodbye Girl

"Be good, Jelly. If you don't, I'll come back and kick your ass." Patty laughed. Keats grinned.

"Definitely. I'll even give you an update on the big bad Wolfe." She said as Patty climbed into the taxi. She waved slowly, watching her best friend disappear down the crowded street.

_Why are goodbyes so hard? And why the hell do I feel like I'll never see her again?_

Keats wiped away a few frustrated tears. It was always like this when she said goodbye to someone. Even though everyone told her that it wouldn't be forever.

The bittersweetness of parting ways allowed Keats to come back to work, and luckily for Keats, the clown case had not been closed yet. Maybe cheering up wouldn't be as hard as the goodbye.

"All the evidence I've seen so far points to Clippo's partner, Zigg." Natalia told Keats. She had handed her the file on the case and brought her up to speed.

"As sleazy as that guy was…and I do mean sleazy…I really don't think it was him." Keats said. Natalia sighed, browsing through the case file.

"How do you know?" She asked. Keats shrugged, feeling stupid that all of her hunches could not stand on their own.

"It doesn't matter how, Keats. Just get me some evidence to prove it." Horatio said, approaching the two women.

Keats turned and flashed him a warm smile. She hugged him quickly, realizing that it probably wouldn't look professional for Lt. Caine to be hugging one of his CSIs.

"It's not like we haven't already exhausted this case, Horatio." Natalia said. Horatio Caine looked at Keats, then turned his gaze to Natalia.

"I have an interesting idea.You two will do reconnaissance work in the field…Good luck, ladies." He slipped on his sunglasses and left them.

Keats sat in the passenger seat of Natalia's car, finding it ironic and incredibly funny that after many weeks of being at odds with one another, they were finally paired on an assignment.

"What are you smiling about?" Natalie wondered, a hint of a smile on her own lips.

"Nothing. Just can't wait to prove you right. That's all." Keats stated. Natalia shook her head, smiling to herself.

"You're a hoot, Keats. But if you're wrong about your hunch, I get the bragging rights for this case. Deal?" Natalia glanced at her mischievously.

Keats nodded, smirking. _God, I love my job._

They approached Zigg's apartment and knocked on the door. They were soon met with a woman in a fluffy pink bathrobe and green foam curlers.

"Can I help you?" She asked, taking a drag from her cigarette.

"We're here to ask your husband a few more questions…" Natalia began. Keats stopped her short.

"May I ask you a few questions, Mrs. Zigg?" Keats asked.

"Mrs. Heifman, you boob. And hell no, I won't answer any questions." She growled, attempting to shut the door.

"Don't you know if you refuse to cooperate, the police take notice? If you're innocent and all that, you should show me." Keats held her foot in the door to keep it open.

"Fine."

Twenty minutes later, Keats had all the information she needed to make a conviction. The only thing left to do was connect the physical evidence with _Mrs. Heifman's _testimony.

"Check it out, Boa Vista. Witnesses contest that Zigg was in his dressing room at the time of the shooting. Clippo was murdered backstage. The only people with that kind of access are the performers and their families."

"Are you saying that Zigg's wife-"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Take another look at the evidence and you'll know I'm right." Keats crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ugh. You're lucky this time, K.J." Natalia groaned. They shared a look and burst into laughter.

Suddenly a woman rushed into the lab that looked like one of the receptionists.

"Ms. Remington, there's an urgent phone call for you."

Keats listened as her mother began talking. But she never heard a word. She knew immediately what had happened. She could feel it in her bones, in her heart. It was as close to her as Patty had been.

But no more.

Keats bit her lip, listening to her mother drone on and on about the accident and how sorry she was. As if that would make it all better. Keats felt the tears rise again.

_Damn my hunches. Why the hell didn't I stop her??? I killed my best friend._

Keats dropped the phone and sank to the ground. She huddled into a corner, weeping silently, rocking back and forth.

"I could have saved her." She whispered to herself. Horatio kneeled beside her, placing a fatherly hand on her shoulder.

"No. There was nothing you could have done, June." He murmured. She clung to him desperately, grateful for his kind words.

_"Will you stop looking at me like that, Jelly? Don't be so damn depressed."_

_"I can't help it. I hate goodbyes." Keats hugged herself, trying to get rid of the cold feeling inside her._

_"Listen, kiddo: Goodbye doesn't mean forever." Patty said, pulling Keats close for one last hug._

_"So…goodbye for now, Peanut Butter. But just for now." Keats said, smiling through her tears._

_"Just for now." Patty repeated._

Keats cried into Horatio's shoulder, her world shattering into thousands of painful pieces.


	48. Losing Control

She stared out the window, peering into the clouds as though she would actually see Patty's smiling face looking down on her.

She left the Lab immediately, Horatio insisting that she take the rest of the day off. But she couldn't go home. Patty had been there. It was too soon.

It was so easy to pretend that Patty was alive and well in Sarasota. She had left that morning and…

It didn't make sense. It didn't seem real. She said that it wouldn't be forever.

She lied.

Keats strolled along the beach, the wind blowing through her hair. Apparently a heavy rain had been falling. So heavy that Patty drove herself off a bridge. Patty had been a horrible driver. Even worse than Keats.

It had been a running gag between them who was the worst driver. They would take turns and critique each other, eventually agreeing that Patty cornered the market on horrendous driving.

"Patty, you idiot. You have to slow down for rain." Keats said. Perhaps it hadn't hit her that hard, yet. The initial shock had worn off and was replaced by a feeling of extreme denial.

Keats tried to think logically. It was impossible to believe that Patty, who was afraid of absolutely nothing in this world, would be taken down by something as simplistic as a car accident.

Patty had always been an omnipresent figure in her life. Keats had always assumed she'd stay with her throughout her life. What kind of life was she supposed to have now?

Keats sat on the sand, cursing everything. Cursing Patty for her bad driving, cursing herself for not paying closer attention to her gut instincts, and cursing God for letting it happen.

Salty tears fell down her blank face, but she was too numb to feel them.

Keats stood, brushing the sand off her slacks. She stumbled a bit, her stomach churning with anger and fear. She threw her head back to the sky and screamed out loud, abandoned and helpless like a child.

She kicked at the sand with intense frustration, weeping gently with every toss of her foot. She dropped to her knees and clutched at the sand, trying to hold on to something so that she wouldn't fall apart.

She felt a pair of strong arms around her, stroking her with delicate softness.

"Keats…talk to me." Ryan's voice came out stronger than his touch.

"I let her go. I knew something would go wrong and I just let her go. If I had owned up to my feelings, I could have saved her." Keats cried.

"Stop, Keats. This isn't your fault. Not even you can predict death, okay?" He told her, mildly scolding her for blaming herself.

"But I felt something. I knew I'd never see her again. But I ignored it."

"It was an accident, Keats. Look at me…it was an _accident_." Keats turned and faced Ryan. His eyes were wide with concern. He placed his hands on either side of her face.

"Then…how come it doesn't feel that way…" Keats said, her voice cracking.

Ryan wrapped his arms around her, clutching her tightly.

"I know…I know…" He whispered. Keats glanced up into his face. He seemed ready to cry himself. She had never seen him this vulnerable before.

"You know?" She asked him. She wondered what he meant.

They sat in a booth facing each other, stirring various things in their respective cups of coffee. Ryan hadn't explained yet how he knew what she was feeling. Keats was waiting patiently, sipping from her cup.

"You asked about my family once, right?"

"And you told me it was just your dad and your brother." Keats supplied.

"What did I tell you about my mother?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck. This certain gesture had become more prominent ever since he'd met Keats.

"You didn't say much."

"Because she died when I was five years old." He said. His voice had become distant. Almost as though even now, after many years, he still couldn't face the pain.

Keats placed a warm hand on his arm. He gave her a weak smile.

"I was too young to understand her disease. Nephritis. Sometimes I still don't understand exactly what went wrong. Anyway, I used to cling to my mother's leg. I'd hold on tight because she was away a lot for hospitalization.

I figured the stronger I held on, the better chances I had of her not leaving. Not more than a few weeks later, she fell, complaining about her leg. We thought it was aching just because of me…I stopped clinging to her after that."

Ryan stopped, almost reluctant to go on. Keats nodded, wishing she knew how to comfort him when she could barely keep herself afloat.

"We waited too late to get her leg checked out. She had gotten a blood clot and by the time she saw someone about it…she'd had a stroke." Ryan said, drinking his coffee.

"You blamed yourself for that? Why?" Keats wondered. Blood clots were common for people with Nephritis.

"Pretty much the same reason why you're blaming yourself, I guess. It's hard to imagine your life as though you have absolutely no control over what happens. And basically, aside from making everyday choices like sneakers or sandals…you really don't. None of us do." He said.

"That's an awful way to think." Keats murmured, ignoring her coffee.

"Maybe, but it puts things in perspective. Even though I know I had nothing to do with her death, blaming something, anything…it made me feel better. Otherwise, my mom died for absolutely no reason.

It's a difficult concept to grasp, even though it's been like twenty-three years." Ryan said, trying to give Keats a reassuring smile.

"I had no idea…I'm sorry." Keats said, averting his eyes.

"I only told you so you'd stop beating yourself up about Patty."

Keats flinched at the sound of her name.

"I want you to tell me that it wasn't your fault." Ryan added. Keats shook her head. She looked into his eyes, the profound sadness and assured wisdom.

Keats sighed, hearing the words in her head and wondering if she could really believe in them.

"It wasn't my fault." She said. She cleared her throat and felt as if a monumental weight was lifted off her shoulders.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, Keats. I thought you were going mental on the beach. I don't want to have to commit you. At least not yet." Ryan smirked.

Keats smiled for the first time since she'd heard the news.


	49. Paradise Lost, Hope Found

Ryan sighed heavily. Keats had taken the next flight up to Sarasota to be with her family. Ryan had offered to go with her, but she had refused, insisting that it was more important for him to be at work.

He agreed with her, against his better judgment. So what if he lost vacation days? Keats was more than worth it. But somehow, they way she'd argued with him, he thought it better that she went alone.

When his mom had died, he stayed away from everyone. He hadn't wanted anyone to know how he cried. Sometimes, it was better to grieve when no one was watching.

He glanced at the pictures of their latest victim, all five shots spread out across the table. Delko stood behind him, studying the photos along with him.

"Somehow…the kid just can't get a break." Delko mumbled after a long while.

"What do you mean? Keats?" Ryan asked, his concentration broken.

"The more I get to know her…the more I feel like…she's a sister to me, you know? I want her to be happy, and then something like this has to happen to her."

"Yeah…Actually, when Keats was off solving crime under everyone's noses, Patty and I went to Molina's. She…helped me pick out a ring."

"Are you for real?" Delko asked, extremely surprised.

"But…I can't ask her now. The timing would be way off. I just…I just wish I could do something for her…" Ryan rubbed his lower lip.

Eric Delko began to see Ryan in a different light. He must have been in love. It showed on his face whenever he spoke of her.

"I can't believe Patty's gone." Ryan ran a rough hand through his hair. Patty's fierce love and protectiveness of Keats had touched him.

_Keats couldn't understand. Her grandmother's house was large and full of secrets…secrets that Grammy Remington refused to acknowledge. _

_Her parents were never around. She hardly knew them at all. But being in Biloxi with Grammy wasn't much better. _

_She was a cold woman. Her heart was in the right place, but she could never express her love in a conventional way._

_Sloane dealt with the lack of attention by sneaking out of the house and going out on dates with guys who didn't really care about her. She knew it deep inside, but she didn't really mind. Attention from anyone, no matter how unhealthy, was worth the trouble._

_Keats decided to deal with it in a different way._

_At first it was the little things…smoking and drinking before she could even legally drive a car. Patty hadn't wanted her to do those things, but since she did them herself, she was hardly in a position to pass judgment._

_Then it became more serious. She would cut herself with scissors, get into fights at school for money. For a brief window of time, she was completely unlike the Keats she would grow up to be._

_During this time, as well, she was involved in gang-related activities. Grammy never noticed because she trusted the girls, and treated them like adults, even when she shouldn't have._

_Patty discovered what she was doing. She held her hand out to reach her when she was wallowing in her lowest depths. Patty was the one who rescued her from the Hell she had found herself in._

_Patty was the one who prevented her from spiraling further out of control._

It was dark outside. The funeral had been well attended, and Keats had gotten away from the mourners as soon as she could manage it. She hated looking into the faces of her old friends. If she saw them, she knew she wouldn't be able to take it.

She was finally alone, sitting on the swingset in the local park. She was swaying lightly with the breeze and keeping good company with her memories of Patty.

"What if I do something stupid again? No one will be there to stop me from making a mistake." Keats murmured into the wind. But as she said it, she saw Ryan's serious face scolding her.

Ryan would protect her. Even if their relationship did not last, she knew he would always care for her. He'd never take Patty's place, but he didn't have to.

Ryan was wonderful in his own right.

She wiped away one last tear and vowed to be strong. If not for Patty, then for Ryan.

"Former Miss Albany?" Horatio kneeled next to the body, fingering the delicate pale blue chiffon fabric between his gloved fingers.

"Mmhmm. And she was dressed for the occasion." Alexx said. She held her two fingers against the victim's neck, double-checking her status.

"If it wasn't for a lack of pulse, Horatio, I'd say this girl was only sleeping."

"Approximate time of death?" Det. Tripp asked her.

"Not more than a few hours ago. The call probably came in pretty close to her T.O.D. But the _cause_ of death…that's the one that'll be tricky." Alexx said.

"She just moved here to live with her brother." Tripp added.

"Has he been questioned, yet?" Horatio wondered. Tripp shook his head.

"Looks like this might be a case of severe sibling rivalry." Horatio slipped on his sunglasses and gave orders for the victim's brother to be apprehended.

"Mr. Delveccio, I need to know where you were last night." Calleigh asked the victim's brother. She sat across from him, surmising his appearance and body language.

"I was at my girlfriend's place. I spent the night there." He said. His spiky blond hair twitched as he spoke.

"I'll need to verify that with her, and any other people who can attest that you were with her the entire night." Calleigh said.

"Sure. Give her a call right now. She's home." He slid his cell phone across the table and Calleigh caught it, her eyes narrowing at him.

'His concern for his sister is apparent.' Calleigh thought skeptically. She dialed the number he had given her and waited patiently for an answer.

"Hello?" A muffled voice said.

"Hi, Ms. Gonzalez? This is CSI Duquesne. I'm calling in regards to your friend, Mr. Delveccio…" Calleigh listened as the woman explained that Delveccio had been with her during the time of the apparent murder.

It sounded accurate, yet incredibly derived. As though she'd been prepped for the phone call a hundred times. Calleigh closed the phone and requested permission to take it for evidence.

Delveccio grinned and nodded. Calleigh hated his grin.

Calleigh strode down the hallway, pausing briefly to inform Natalia about the Delveccio interview.

"So the guy's dirty?" Natalia asked. Calleigh gave a curt nod.

"By the way…have you heard anything about K.J.?" She wondered. Calleigh shook her head, her face suddenly concerned.

"I've been meaning to ask Ryan about it, but he's never in the mood to talk." She murmured.

"Wow. Must be pretty bad." Natalia replied. She was really growing fond of Keats and was saddened by her loss.

"It has to be. He won't talk to anyone except Eric and Horatio."

"Well, if I can't find out anything soon, I'm going to go digging for info myself." Natalia said before Calleigh was called away to check on Alexx's progress.

She watched her go, wondering why Ryan was holding back.


	50. Hello Again

"Wolfe. Got a minute?" Natalia sauntered into the lab. Ryan closed the file on Casey Delveccio and turned to face Natalia.

"What?" He asked. He gazed at her with mild impatience.

"Can you tell me what's going on? I see K.J. on the phone crying hysterically-"

"She went back home for the funeral. There's nothing else to say." Ryan interrupted her.

Keats had long since forgiven her, but Ryan still associated Natalia with the stigma of nearly losing the love of his life. He found it very hard to take the high road.

"How is she now? Is she better? Is she coming back to work? What?"

"I haven't talked to her since she left. But before she left, she said she'd be back to work by tomorrow afternoon…satisfied?"

"Ryan, aren't you the least bit worried about her? You seem to be taking it pretty well considering K.J. almost had a nervous breakdown the other day."

Ryan took a deep breath and controlled a fierce urge to shout.

"You think I don't want to be with her right now? Not that it's any of your business, but…the only thing I can do for her right now…is give her some space." Ryan seemed to be having trouble saying the words.

Natalia nodded, pursing her lips together.

"Ryan…I'm sorry. I didn't realize…" She began.

Ryan turned back to the case files and browsed through them, unceremoniously ending the entire discourse.

"I guess I never told you while you were alive, but…you meant so much to me. But you probably knew that all along.

I mean, I love Grammy Remington and Sloane and all…but you were my family, Peanut Butter. You helped me more than you would ever know.

I love you, Patty. Always." Keats placed a single rose near the marble headstone marked, 'Patience Brooke Barrington.'

She placed her fingers on her lips and touched the grave, feeling a swell of optimism rise through her.

_Patty would be so proud of me if she knew that I was 'getting my shit together.' She may have been my life a long time ago, but I have a new life now. With new friends, and a wonderful boyfriend. I know she'd be happy for me._

Keats said her goodbyes and took an earlier flight, anxious to get back to her life in Miami.

"Horatio, this poor baby may have been clean on the outside, but she's all messed up inside. Take a look at these scans from her intestines." Alexx pointed to her monitors.

"They look swollen." He said, trying to figure out an explanation.

"The gastrointestinal tract, the kidneys, and even the brain hemorrhaged. Which indicates she had a case of toxic shock syndrome. Significant tissue and organ damage has been done…I think she was poisoned."

Alexx typed in a few chemical notations into her computer and pressed enter. Her eyes scoured the list of results.

"Just as I thought. Arsenic trioxide: the most lethal form of arsenic. The average human ingests a few milligrams of non-toxic arsenic a day through meals. But this…this was no accident."

Alexx stroked the side of the girl's face, marveling at how peaceful she looked. Though her internal injuries no doubt made her last living hours pure torture.

"Knock knock." Keats said, peeking into the DNA lab. Valera and Natalia looked around and smiled when they saw their friend waving gaily at them.

"K.J. Are you all right?" Natalia gave her a quick hug, stepping back to let Valera embrace Keats.

"I've been better. But it's early." Keats replied sadly. Valera nodded sympathetically.

"Ryan said you wouldn't be back until tomorrow." Natalia added.

"I wanted to come home. I'm still needed here. Personal tragedy or not, crime never stops, right?" Keats was waning on her hopefulness. It was understood that there would be good days and bad days, but she hadn't wanted to return on a bad day.

Everyone would look at her like she was a ticking time bomb.

"We're glad you're back, K.J. It hasn't been the same without you." Valera said, interrupting Keats' thoughts.

"What's new in the Lab?" She wondered after they'd greeted each other properly.

"A beauty queen was murdered in her bedroom. The only suspect so far is the brother, who lived with her. But he has a fairly solid alibi." Natalia said.

"I can work with fairly solid. Fairly solid is good. They get a sense of ease…they get a little careless…we take advantage of their sloppy cover and nail them at their most vulnerable." Keats had dearly missed her job, and knew she'd done the right thing coming back early.

"I bow to the master." Natalia teased. Keats rolled her eyes playfully. And it was then that she truly knew she was going to be okay.

"June. We keep meeting like this, don't we?" Horatio said, placing a warm hand on her shoulder.

The humor in his eyes made Keats feel extremely welcome. Despite her behavior the other day, it seemed no one held it against her or thought her crazy. They were incredibly understanding. It was nice.

"By the way, where's Ryan?" She asked. She wanted to thank him for his kind words and his support.

"His shift ended a few hours ago." Horatio said. Keats nodded, listening intently as he gave her closer details of the murder case they were currently involved in.

"Did the girl have a spouse or boyfriend?" She asked Horatio.

"As a matter of fact, she did. Do you want to question him?"

Keats stood over the table in the interrogation room and handed Jimmy Grayson (the potential perp), a photo of Casey from the crime scene.

"Is it just a coincidence that you've been reported as ordering several vials of arsenic from a chemical laboratory in town?" Keats asked right off the bat.

There was no need to waste time in the matter. Especially when Keats was aching to deliver some justice.

"Please. She told me she had a problem with fire ants in her yard, so I bought arsenic and a couple of other things to mix up in order to exterminate them. She couldn't afford a professional."

"Are you a chemistry nerd or something?" She asked. Jimmy nodded, his eyes confident and self-assured.

"Chemical engineering was my major in college. But I shouldn't say that, right? It might make me seem guilty." Jimmy gave a handsome smile. He was trying to flirt with her in order to get her to ease off.

"Fire ants, huh? That seems pretty plausible. So who do you think committed the murder?"

"It could have been her brother. They had a sick relationship. Or it could have been some twisted attempt at getting my sympathy." Jimmy rubbed his well-coiffed goatee.

"You think she committed suicide by ingesting arsenic? There are easier ways to do that. Poison is painful."

"What can I say? She wanted me back. We broke up like months ago, so she moved out here to be closer to me. Only, I started going out with this other girl. Is it my fault that she couldn't handle it?" Jimmy shifted in his chair.

"If things were completely over between the two of you, then why did you take care of her fire ant problem?" Keats was determined to cut through all the bullshit.

"I'm a nice guy. She may have been my ex, but she was still my friend. I help out my friends when they're in trouble."

"This sick relationship with her brother…would you care to expound on that?"

"We went to couples' therapy last year. She had several…reservations, I guess you could say…about sex. She was…inhibited.

Anyway, after three weeks of sessions, the therapist got to the root of her problem. Casey had done some things with her brother when she was a kid. Her parents found out and they sent the brother packing to a boarding school.

She felt guilty and it transferred into her sexual identity. Clinically speaking, that is. I don't usually talk that way." Jimmy finished with a satisfied smirk.

"You don't think your current girlfriend is a suspect?" Keats wondered. Jimmy frowned and shook his head.

"She doesn't even know that Casey exists. Or existed, as the case may be."

Keats struggled to suppress her nausea. Delveccio may have been a slime, but Jimmy was far worse.

"Be ready to answer more questions when I get the full results of the autopsy." Keats managed to say, leaving the room in a hurry.

She stood next to Horatio on the other side of the wall and took one last look at Jimmy Grayson as he was escorted out the door.

"H…may I go investigate the crime scene?" Keats asked hopefully. Horatio hid a smile and nodded.

"You don't have much time, though, June. The cleaning crew is getting ready to go over there." He said, taking off toward the morgue.

Keats lingered for a moment, making a mental note to hug Horatio the next time she saw him. He was terribly good to her, and she was extremely grateful for him.

The bedroom obviously belonged to the brother, Keats noticed. There was a stack of Playboys under the bed and dirty boxer shorts all over the floor. Unless Miss Albany happened to wear men's underwear, it was definitely Tony Delveccio's room.

Amidst a bunch of beer cans and bottles of wine on his desk and nightstand, Keats discovered a very expensive, half-empty bottle of champagne. It was easy to miss, as it had been shoved between his mattresses.

Keats sniffed around the bottle opening. She then placed it in a plastic bag to take back to the Lab. She then poked around his closet, stepping far away from where Casey's body had been found.

The closet was full of smelly shoes and old shirts, but Keats was certain there was something useful around, just waiting to be noticed.

She picked up a red stiletto heel on top of the pile of Nikes and nodded to herself. She began to walk out of the closet, but was angered to find one of the buttons on her shirt caught on a wire hanger.

"Ooof." She mumbled as she tugged the shirt loose. She fell backward on the pile of footwear and was thrown against the wall. The wall creaked and gave way, opening like a door.

"A secret passage? How sinister of you, Mr. Delveccio…" Keats murmured, staring up into the darkness. She was at the top of a long, narrow flight of steps leading down into a basement-like room.

Keats grabbed a flashlight from her kit and walked down the steps, making as little sound as possible. She shone her light over several pieces of rope, each strand frayed at the edges.

She noticed an abandoned 'cat o nine tails' lying next to a few leather belts. Keats raised her eyebrows incredulously.

"Maybe 'sick' wasn't the right word…" She muttered to herself. She placed several samples of her findings in plastic bags, packing them away in her kit.

When she was satisfied that she had seen all she needed to see, she took another glance at the room as she retreated up the stairs.

"You forgot to tell me you were coming here."

"Arrrggggghhhh…Berkeley, you ass! Don't do that!" Keats screamed. She had just bumped into Jake Berkeley, her so-called superior and the only human occupational hazard at M.D.P.D.

"If you'd followed protocol, I wouldn't have had to sneak in here. Find anything interesting?" He asked, grabbing her flashlight from her. She glared at him and tried to get it back.

"Just some suspicious S&M type objects. The boyfriend said that the brother was having an incestuous affair with the victim." She grunted, trying to reach her flashlight. Berkeley held it high above his head, dangling it in front of her.

She jumped up to catch hold of it and unwittingly fell into Berkeley's trap. He held onto her tightly, kissing her with rough yearning. She was so warm and well worth the wait.

Keats pushed him away, breaking into a run. She flew up the stairs and didn't stop to look back.


	51. A Different Kind of Love

**A special thanks to everyone who reviewed the last couple of chapters…I was kind of worried that I wouldn't get out of my slump, but when it rains, it pours, I guess. I've written more in the last two days than I have in the past month. Anyway, if it seems like things aren't happening for a reason, they really are. It might take me awhile to get back to it, but I didn't forget.**

After dropping off the evidence at M.D.P.D., Keats headed over to Ryan's apartment. But instead if going in, she waited in her car, wiping her lips as though she could take away what happened.

She felt guilty even though she knew she'd done nothing wrong. Sure, she could have kicked him in the gonads to prevent him from kissing her again, but overall, she was a fairly innocent party.

_How can I tell Ryan that Jake kissed me? Especially when he's been so supportive... He'll be furious with me. What if he ends up hating me?_

She entered his apartment using her spare key and found Ryan asleep at his desk. He was wearing glasses, apparently in the process of reading over a few depositions of Casey's.

Keats found it strange that he was suddenly wearing glasses. She had assumed that his eyes were fine. At any rate, Keats smiled at him, thinking him very cute.

"I'm going to tell you something, okay? Promise not to get mad?" Keats began. She had made up her mind to tell him, and figured that this was excellent practice.

"Berkeley…kissed me. I didn't ask him to and I didn't return the kiss. I broke away when I got the chance and I ran like the dickens…" She gave a sigh after she had purged her proverbial soul.

_But it'll be that much harder to tell him when he's awake._

"…Keats, isn't it customary to confess your sins to someone who's conscious?" Ryan lifted his head up and took off his glasses. Keats gulped.

"Please don't kill me, Ryan. I love you, and I didn't mean for that to happen. He sort of grabbed me and kissed me and then-"

"Say that again." Ryan placed his elbows on his knees and leaned forward.

"Don't kill me?" Keats asked, her brows furrowed.

"No. Right after that."

"I love you." Keats said, hoping that he would feel the same way and forgive her.

Ryan placed his lips gently against her own, kissing her as though he were erasing any leftover traces of Jake Berkeley.

"That's all I need to hear." He said, going into the kitchen for his medicine. He'd gone to a doctor after getting off work that day, receiving another round of antibiotics and a prescription for reading glasses.

Keats could hardly believe that he wasn't flying into a rage. But perhaps…maybe their love had grown deep enough to where things like that didn't matter as much.

She followed him into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. He turned around to face her, backing her against the refrigerator.

"I missed you." He said against the nape of her neck.

"I missed you, too. Why do you think I left early?" She asked him, looking deep into his dark eyes.

"Because you're a workaholic." He said with a laugh. Keats gave a mock-angry glance at him and shook her head.

"That's only part of it. Most of it is that I wanted to be with you." Keats explained. Ryan smiled, hugging her close to him.

Keats slept fitfully. Her dreams haunted her, but they weren't about Patty. She woke up sweating several times, but luckily she never woke Ryan.

Her dreams were about the large Remington mansion. The rooms that stayed closed always and the scent of unspoken terrors. Keats had jolted out of the dream, telling herself that the stress she'd been under was accounting for all the nightmares.

If any of the Remingtons had kept any secrets from her, she was inclined not to know what they were.

After waking up for the fifth time, she decided to stay awake. She got on the computer and played around a bit, trying to calm her worn nerves.

Suddenly she felt a burst of inspiration. She grabbed a yellow legal pad and jotted down some names: Jimmy Grayson, Tony Delveccio, and Sorrel Chambers, Jimmy's girlfriend.

She gave them each their own column and started it off by listing their motives. Jimmy's motive was more or less a skanky boyfriend trying to get rid of his persistent ex. Sorrel's was the typical jealous girlfriend feeling threatened by her boyfriend's old flame.

Tony's motive was harder to discern, however. Was he jealous that Casey was in love with Jimmy? Perhaps he was resentful of her and blamed her for their parents' decision of sending him to boarding school. In any case, he had motives.

Keats ran her pen through the three columns and rubbed her aching eyes. She threw the pad aside and went back to bed, crawling under the covers next to Ryan.

"The bottle you brought me? It tested positive for the arsenic trioxide. There were granules of powder at the bottom." Alexx told Keats. She'd checked in with her the very first thing.

"But there wasn't a glass or anything found at the scene." Keats said. Alexx nodded.

"It was probably taken by the murderer to hide his tracks." She replied.

"Keats. Thought I'd find you here. They found traces of the powder on the steering wheel of Jimmy Grayson's truck." Delko said, entering the morgue with an open file.

"They're arresting him." He added. Keats' jaw fell open. _But it's way too soon!_

"But-"

"Keats, don't tell me you think this guy is innocent…. You said yourself that he fit the prototype for a deranged killer." Eric said with disbelief.

"I was just being my usual sarcastic self. I agree, he really is the type, but I don't think he did it." Keats shook her head.

"Why can't we slow down just a tad? Isn't it unfair to be so hasty when someone's freedom and life are on the line?" Keats shrieked in frustration.

"Keats, calm down. Look, if you really think this guy is innocent, get some solid evidence to support it." Delko said, holding onto her shoulders. Keats stormed out of the morgue, leaving the door swinging.

"I just might!" She yelled behind her.

"She really adds something to this place." Alexx said.

"I know what you mean." Delko replied.


	52. Deb Friedman, 3 WHAT?

Keats ran into the computer lab where Dan Cooper was busily filing a report.

"Cooper, can I get the address of Delveccio's girlfriend?" She asked, hopping onto the desk. She squeezed Cooper's arm and grinned at him, telling him without words that she hadn't forgotten his friendship.

"Keats, one of these days you're gonna owe me big time." He said, printing out the information.

"What do you want as payment? Perhaps a crate of floppy disks?" She joked. She knew he hated them with a passion. He was a flash drive sort of guy.

"Let me think it over. Then I'll let you know." He said, handing her the paper.

Keats exited the elevator of the building where Keeley Causby lived and breezed down the hallway looking for apartment 3F. When she found it, she knocked on it nervously.

She heard laughter erupt from the inside and waited for someone to answer the door.

A drunk-looking girl with jet-black hair opened the door, smiling lazily.

"Are you the pizza?" She asked. Keats shook her head.

"No, I'm new in this building. I was wondering…"

"Babe, who is it?" Another woman's voice asked. This woman was blond and quite tiny.

"Keeley Causby?" Keats asked. The blond nodded.

"Who are you?" She wondered.

"I'm Deb Friedman. I'm a new tenant. I just wanted to meet a few of my neighbors." Keats said in her best hyperactive preppy voice.

"Forgive my mannersh…I'm Donna…this is my loooover, Keeley. We like binge drinking and barhopping as Sailor Moon." The black-haired girl slurred, hanging on the door for support.

"Shut up, Donna." Keeley snapped. She regarded Keats with a cynical eye and held the door open for her to come in.

"Wow, I just love lesbians!" Keats squealed. She had no doubt about her talents as an actress.

"Who doesn't?" Keeley said with a weird expression. She gestured for her to sit down, and Keats complied.

"So how long have you guys been together?" Keats asked.

"Two yers…" Donna said with a hiccup.

"Although sometimes it feels like ten." Keeley said, casting disdainful glances toward her partner.

"Do you live together? That is soooo romantic!" Keats said. Keeley nodded reluctantly and Keats wondered if she had enough information to warrant a closer inspection of Tony Delveccio.

"Sometimes it is. Other times it's a regular pain in the ass." Keeley muttered. She took out a flask and drank heavily from it.

"Well, I ought to get going, but do you want to get together sometime?" Keats said, rising and slowly making her way to the door.

"Yeah, sure…what was your name again?" Keeley asked.

"Deb Friedman. Apartment 3B." She said, proud of her excellent improv skills.

"Wait a second…Phil Levin lives in 3B. Who the hell are you?" Keeley stood quite close to Keats' face.

"3B? I meant 3C." Keats muttered.

"Old lady Biggerstaff is 3C." Keeley said, coming closer to Keats. She could hear sirens in her head and wondered what to do.

"Erm…3D?" She asked timidly. Keeley shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You must be that Sorrel bitch that's been checking up on us." She said. Keats made a mad dash for the door. But unfortunately Keeley had latched onto her elbow and she swung around.

Her face connected with Keeley's fist rather easily and she staggered backward from the force of her punch.

"I'm not Sorrel." She said, fingering her tender cheekbone.

"Then who are you?" Keeley asked. Keats tried to think fast.

"A Jehovah's Witness?" Keats mumbled. She had gotten herself into an awful mess, but Keeley seemed ready for her to leave. Keats was more than obliged to respect her wishes.

Keats slumped into the Lab with papers explaining that Keeley Causby's apartment was also Donna Benton's. They rented it together and split every payment down the middle. They were also lovers.

Tony Delveccio's alibi of being with his 'girlfriend' was a deliberate set-up.

She limped over to the desk where Delko was filing paperwork alongside Ryan. Without a word, she tossed the papers over to Eric and gave him a nod of triumph.

"Remington, what the-"

"Relax, I'm okay. It took more effort than I thought to get my proof, though." Keats murmured. Her cheekbone was dark purple, but she was glad to have prevailed.

"Keats…" Ryan sighed. He was at a loss for words. She was completely out of line. Her stunts often got her into hot water and Ryan was afraid that someday she might get worse than a punch in the face.

Her enthusiasm and quest for justice were some of the things he truly loved about her. But at what cost did she succeed? Today getting knocked around, tomorrow getting a bullet through the head…

Ryan pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He would simply have to watch over her more closely, or at the very least have a talk with her about being more careful.

"I know I do things a little differently than everyone else, but I get the job done." Keats said. She hated the look on Ryan's face. It was one of exasperation and helplessness. Of being quite fed up.

"You don't have to change, Remington. But try not to get yourself killed, all right?" Delko said before the moment could get any more tense.

"Sure thing." She said, leaving the two men alone to finish their paperwork.

Ryan threw his pen down after several minutes of total silence.

"I hate this. I need to put her in a plastic bubble." Ryan muttered. Delko looked at Ryan and did a strange thing. He began to laugh. Quite loudly in fact.

"Will you just marry her, already? When she's your wife, then you can tell her not to play Nancy Drew. But until then, she has no incentive to listen." Delko said.

"You think she won't take me seriously until I marry her?" Ryan asked. It stood to reason, but…

"Just do it, man. Whisk her away…" Eric said with a grin.

"I will. I just want to wait for the right time." Ryan replied. Delko rolled his chocolate brown eyes.

"You're pathetic, man. What are you so afraid of?" He asked.

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm afraid she'll say no. She hated being married to me before…and she's still just a kid. If I ask her to marry me at the wrong time, I'll risk losing her. I don't want to think about that happening."

"She never hated being married to you before." Natalia said, suddenly walking in on the conversation. She stood behind Delko, her hands on his shoulders.

"What?" The two men asked at the same time.

"She hated the fact that you treated it as a joke. She didn't think you were serious." Natalia explained. Ryan's eyes widened in realization.


	53. Engaged, Yet Enraged

Keats ran her fingers along her cheek, wincing in the mirror. Ryan was getting sick of her. It was obvious.

She heard Ryan enter the apartment and sighed to herself. It was only a matter of time before he admitted that he couldn't handle a crazy klutz like her.

He stood behind her, smiling at her reflection.

"Can I ask you a question?" He said, taking hold of her left hand. Keats turned and felt her heart quicken its pace.

"I want you to know that I'm being very serious." He continued, getting down on one knee in front of Keats. She bit her lip nervously.

"Keats Juniper Remington, will you-" Ryan's cell phone rang before he could finish his sentence. He gave an annoyed groan and flipped it open.

"Wolfe here…Delveccio? You're positive about that…Sure, we'll be right over." Ryan snapped his phone closed. He gave Keats an apologetic glance and stood up.

"Will there be a shootout at Twelve Oaks, General Wolfe?" Keats laughed, trying to show Ryan that she wasn't the least bit angry. As a matter of fact, she was more relieved than anything else.

"We need to head over to Delveccio's place. Now." He said, taking her by the hand.

Ryan approached the house with his gun ready at his side. Keats followed him slowly, her mind in a thousand places at once.

Keats went straight for the secret passage, and Ryan stood close by, making sure the area was safe. They walked down the steps with their eyes peeled, expecting Delveccio to appear.

The basement was completely empty.

"False alarm?" Keats said, breaking the stillness and quiet. She glanced at Ryan.

"You wish." A voice called out from the corner. Keats turned and faced Tony Delveccio, apparently exhausted and mentally drained.

"My sister…I loved my sister. I'd never kill my sister…" He wailed.

"Tony, listen to me…I need you to tell me the truth. She asked you to help her, didn't she?" Keats said, putting a hand on Delveccio's shoulder.

Tony said nothing. He wiped his eyes, blinking at Keats with a melancholy expression on his face.

"She asked you to do this, right? And you both planned on framing Jimmy Grayson in order to get back at him, right?" Keats murmured comfortingly.

"He ruined my sister. And he dumped her like week-old trash!" Tony said, tears flowing freely down his face. Ryan stood in awe of Keats.

"And that was the only way you could get her to use the poison, right? She knew how painful it would be…" Keats said. Tony nodded.

"We had a goodbye dinner. I made a toast with the special champagne…"

"Tony…it's okay. You were only doing what she asked you to do." Keats said, giving Ryan a knowing look. He nodded and called for backup.

"But I'll be thrown in prison." Tony whimpered. Keats hugged him gently.

"Tony, the police can help you." Keats said. She continued to coax him and when the police arrived, they took him into their custody and Keats felt saddened. She almost wished it _had_ been Jimmy in Tony's place.

Keats was beginning to discover that being right wasn't always a good thing.

"You're…amazing, Keats." Ryan said, watching the squad car take away Tony Delveccio.

"Listen, about what you were saying earlier…I sincerely hope you were not going to propose to me in the _bathroom_. I mean, come on, Wolfe. You can be more romantic than that…" Keats said with a smug grin.

"Fine, then. I just won't ask you." Ryan said, turning away from her. He was laughing on the inside, waiting for her to squeal and protest. He was not disappointed.

"Ryan! You evil little twerp…ugh. I wouldn't marry you if you paid me!" Keats said to his retreating back. Ryan whirled around and held her chin, making sure she was looking into his eyes.

"Marry me, Keats. I'm not asking." Ryan said.

"Oh, so you're telling me to marry you? I'm not even your wife and you're already giving me orders?" Keats ranted. Ryan held his thumb over her lips.

"You're ruining the moment, Keats. Shut up and kiss me." He murmured. She obliged, looping her arms around his neck. She broke away soon after with a wicked little smile on her face.

"But don't think you can boss me around, Wolfe." She said.

"Are you kidding? That's the main reason…" He joked. He wrapped his arms around her and remembered the fateful day she stumbled into his life as a newbie intern. It had been a hell of a year.

Ryan led Keats into his hummer and glanced over as Detective Jake Berkeley emerged from his Escalade.

"Keats…hold on a second. I'll be right back." He said.

He walked over to Berkeley and stood glowering at him. He held his arms across his chest and waited for Jake to speak.

"This blackmail thing…it's not going to work." Ryan said. He had grown tired of waiting for Berkeley to explain.

"Why not?"

"Because I say it's not." Ryan snapped. He was resisting the urge to slam him up against the hood of his vehicle.

"Oh, I guess you heard about the little smooch, huh?" Jake said in his smarmy way. Ryan tightened his fist.

"Yeah, I did."

"Sorry I couldn't do more."

Ryan grabbed Berkeley's shirt and held him still while delivering a powerful uppercut that nearly knocked Jake unconscious. Keats hopped out of the hummer and ran over to Ryan, trying to hold him back.

"Ryan, don't make things worse." She said. Ryan sighed, rubbing his throbbing fist.

"You're gonna be really sorry you did that, Wolfe." Jake said, lying on the ground. He wiped his bloody nose with the back of his hand.

"Actually, Keats is the one who's going to pay." He said softly.

"What?" Keats asked, alarmed. She didn't understand what that could mean.

"Before you can graduate, I'm going to recommend that you go through two weeks of final training at Miami Dade Officer Training Camp. And believe me, Keats, it's grueling, hard work."

"Training Camp?" Keats cried.

Keats was wearing navy blue sweatpants and a crisp white shirt. She stood in a long row of other officers and peered around them curiously.

_All of these people are pretty ripped. Compared to them, I'm really out of shape._

"Remington! Back in formation." Capt. Erickson shouted. He was the overseer, and was Jake Berkeley's personal champion.

"Listen up! First things first. We're going to test everyone's physical aptitude. How far can you go? I plan to find out." Erickson barked.

Keats cringed as she felt beads of sweat fall down the sides of her face. She had just gone five minutes in a long-distance endurance run and everyone had passed her in the first lap.

"Remington! Pick up the pace or you'll never pass!" Erickson shouted, scribbling down a few things on a clipboard.

Keats groaned, mopping up her forehead.

"This is one _really_ bad…no, wait. This is one really _heinous_ day." Keats muttered. But she didn't expect any days of the next two weeks to be anything other than awful.


	54. Tomboy Tough

Training Camp, even though it had nothing at all to do with the army, was more like Boot Camp.

There were long hikes in the woods (in bad weather, most of the time), bad food, uncomfortable living quarters, and degrading exercises that involved Keats getting yelled at in front of everyone by Captain Erickson.

_Do I smell foul play? Yes, and my God does it stink! Berkeley will feel my wrath as soon as I get out of this hellhole…_

Every time Keats turned around, she had broken a rule. Talking out of line, not being 'of uniform' in the ranks, 'cheating' on a few of her physical exams…

"I'm telling you, people! There is no way I can cheat on a physical!" Keats growled at her commanding officers. They were not amused in the slightest.

She tugged at her flaming red hair, wondering if she was, in fact, going crazy. Everyone seemed to be against her and it was more than she could handle trying to defend herself from the onslaught of it all.

"Remington, one more outburst like that and you can kiss that diploma goodbye." Erickson said, grabbing her by the arm. He led her outside into the bright sunshine, tossing her to the grass like a gym bag.

"I want you to do 75 pushups. Right now! Not gonna wait all day!" Erickson shouted, clapping his hands like a demented football coach. Keats pouted visibly, wondering if he could justify his actions.

"You never make the other guys do this." She murmured, lifting herself up by the palms of her hands.

"What was that? Did you sass me, girl?" Erickson asked. Keats shook her head in defeat, completing her second pushup. Her arms were already aching.

"That's what I thought." He muttered, running a hand over his rough face.

Ryan stood behind Dan Cooper as he reviewed all of Detective Berkeley's files, including those of his 'minor' indiscretions.

"He can't get away with this, right? There must be some way…" Ryan racked his brain trying to search for a solution. He didn't even know where to begin.

"Jake has a few connections up top, so his ass is basically covered no matter what he does. Why do you think he's been around so long with all the junk he's pulled?" Cooper said.

"Connections…what kind of connections…" Ryan scratched his head in frustration.

"He's got protection at county level. Maybe someone from state ought to teach him a lesson." Cooper mumbled. Ryan glanced at him with a mixture of surprise and unbound joy.

"Dan, you're a genius! We'll call in an investigation on Berkeley from IAB. This is exactly the kind of thing that Stetler's been looking for. Calleigh can vouch for his suspicion. Do you remember her threat?"

"Whoa, slow down, Wolfe. A- I think Stetler would rather nail someone from this Lab than the actual department. B- Even if IAB did investigate, Berkeley and his cronies would cover their tracks too well to get caught. And C- …uh…I guess there is no C."

Ryan paced the room, feeling as tense and furious as a caged beast. Berkeley was the filthiest son of a bitch ever to set foot in Miami Dade. With a lot of luck, however, no one would have to deal with him for very long.

"How do you feel?" Erickson laughed. He shoved his foot under Keats' stomach and lifted it, rolling her onto her back. Keats was too exhausted to do anything but lay still and breathe.

"You know what I think?" He asked, leaning down over her like a storm cloud.

Keats shook her head lazily and closed her eyes, moaning from the pain.

"You aren't tough enough to cut it. You don't have the chops to make it as a police officer. Maybe you can fiddle around with chemicals and shit doing grunt work in your Lab…but I really don't think you have the balls to pass this training course."

Keats felt something inside her snap…whatever was controlling her rage suddenly disappeared, releasing a floodgate of fury. She leapt to her feet in a flash, pausing briefly to smile at Erickson before she kneed him in the groin.

"I may not have the balls. You're right…But then again, you don't have the balls anymore either, huh?" Keats said, kneeling beside Erickson, whose face was turning a fresh shade of purple.

"She did what?" Horatio asked patiently, dealing very calmly with Captain Bitterman's account of what had transpired between Keats and Erickson.

Bitterman, though under Berkeley's thumb as well, was more of a slave to Erickson. And since Erickson needed an orchidectomy…

"I'm sorry about Captain Erickson's…surgery…" Horatio was _very_ careful how he worded his apology. The situation was sensitive, but Horatio was planning to use that as a way to take control over this ridiculousness with Det. Berkeley.

He had been watching from the sidelines in the hopes that his CSIs would know how to handle themselves, or at the very least, ask for help or guidance from him.

And now Keats was between a rock and a hard place. Leave it to Little Red to take bad circumstances and make them ten times worse. It was one of her many talents.

Horatio Caine stood in the doorway of the computer lab and motioned for Ryan to follow him into the hallway. Ryan complied, wondering if everything was working out for Keats at Training Camp.

"Do you have any idea what you did to that man?" Bitterman screamed in Keats' face. She was sitting in a chair in a dark room with only a single lamp to illuminate her already haggard face.

She nodded, folding her lips to hide the smile on them.

"You think this is funny? The Captain has every right to press charges against you."

"Maybe he should start with my lawsuit first. I'm going to sue his ass off…hey, I guess I already kind of did." Keats stopped short, thinking. She wanted to laugh, but the look on Bitterman's face made her swallow any feelings of merriment.

"You're going head to head with Seville Erickson in a civil trial? Good luck with that, kiddo."

"I'm not afraid of fighting with Seville in a civil…ha ha…the name…Seville…civil…they're similar. Ya get it?" Keats closed her mouth and looked away. _This guy needs to lighten up._

Horatio gave Ryan one of his sympathetic, yet firm stares and Ryan began to worry.

"I've known about the relationship from the beginning, Wolfe. I was more than willing to overlook it, as a matter of fact…provided that it didn't interfere with work."

"It really hasn't, H…" Ryan began. Horatio raised his eyebrows.

"Are you telling me that if you hadn't fought over Remington that she'd still be doing this Officer Training course?" Horatio asked him. Ryan was speechless.

"…Berkeley…" He managed to say after a while.

"He may be part of the scum of society, but he came here initially because of IAB's investigation. You are her mentor, are you not? You have been letting her get away with some things that they didn't quite agree with."

Ryan had no more words left. He was too confused and saddened.

"Wolfe, I don't want to lose either of you on the team. But you can't continue things the way they are now. Someone is bound to get hurt, and I'm afraid it'll be Remington."

"But H…we're getting married…" Ryan said in a soft voice.

"I'm not saying I want you to end the engagement, Wolfe. But one of you will have to choose who gets to stay on the team."

With that, Horatio put a comforting hand on Ryan's shoulder and left him alone with his thoughts.


	55. Midnight Rain

"Really? He said that?" Keats bit her lip. She was standing inside a phonebooth and periodically glancing at her watch so she wouldn't let her break time slip over.

"Stop doing that, Keats." Ryan said. He couldn't see her, but he knew she was biting her lip again.

"How the heck did you know?" She replied, dumbfounded.

"I know you, Keats. You think I'd marry a stranger?" Ryan retorted. He was angry with himself and Jake Berkeley, but he was taking it out on Keats.

"Ryan…you should stay with the team. I can find another job someplace else. You've been there longer." Keats said at length. It had been one of the hardest things she'd ever had to say. But Ryan was worth it.

"I can't let you do that, Keats…Anyway, I think H might be testing us."

"What? How do you know?" Keats wondered.

"I don't know how I know. But we have to find some way to prove that the two of us can work together at M.D.P.D. and still have a relationship." He leaned back in his chair, staring at the eyeglasses in his hand.

Keats wanted so much to hug him and kiss him. She would even have been satisfied to see his face for a few moments. It was her fourth day and she was homesick as all get-out.

She missed her job. Investigating crime scenes and putting together evidence. She missed the people at her job. Delko, Natalia, Valera, Calleigh, Alexx, Cooper…She missed her boss, who was at times more of a father figure than a real boss.

And last but not least, she truly missed her Ryan.

She felt a tear escape the corner of her eye and she wondered how to end the conversation without letting Ryan know she was crying.

"Keats, what's wrong? You're really quiet." He said.

"Just tired." She said with a sigh. She hoped he hadn't heard her voice tremble.

"Are they roughing you up?" Ryan asked, half-serious.

"Depends on what you call rough…Um, I really have to go. I have to complete this obstacle course thing before I go to bed…"

"All right. I'll call you tomorrow, then. Same time?" He asked. He figured something was up, but if it was serious, he knew she'd cave in and tell him soon enough.

"Yeah…Love you." She said softly. The words sounded really rice to her.

"I love you, too." He murmured. Although Keats had to admit that they sounded better coming from Ryan. They ended the conversation and Keats ran to the grassy field behind the Training building, ready to complete one phase of her training.

Ryan held the phone for a long time, wishing he could backtrack everything. It was his fault that Keats had run away in the first place, making her a noticeable target by IAB. Whatever happened in the future, he didn't want Keats to pay for his mistakes.

"How do we prove that we can be together?" He mumbled to himself.

Rain was a rare occurrence, only it didn't feel so rare when it was pouring down on you as though the clouds were melting from the heat.

Keats' first task was to climb across a narrow pole without falling, in case she should ever have to climb out on a window ledge to prevent someone from jumping to his death.

"Shouldn't I do this when it isn't raining?" She asked above the roar of the downpour. Bitterman gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

Keats took a deep breath, climbing onto the ladder and willing herself not to look down too much. She finally stood at the top, looking across the pole to the other end.

_It's frigging slippery out here. How am I supposed to do this without breaking my neck?_

Keats turned to look at Bitterman and wondered if that wasn't the original idea.

Erickson slowly regained consciousness. He was lying very still in his hospital bed, recovering from his surgery. He blinked a few times before noticing that Jake was sitting in the chair beside him reading a magazine.

"Berkeley…come here." He said, beckoning him with a weak finger. Jake stood up with a smile and tossed the magazine aside.

"Erickson…glad you're awake, man." He said, approaching the bed. Erickson's hand shot out from under the covers and grabbed Berkeley by the neck.

"This was not in the fine print, Rat Boy." He seethed. Berkeley began to struggle, but to no avail as Erickson was terribly strong.

"It's…th…the girl." He gurgled.

"You knew she was feisty, didn't you? And you let me make a fool of myself. Now, thanks to you, I've only got one nut…The deal is off, Berkeley. I'm writing you up. There is no way in Hell you can talk yourself out of this one." He said, suddenly releasing his grip.

Berkeley fell to the floor and gasped for breath.

"Oh!" Keats steadied herself carefully, trying not to think about Bitterman anticipating her to fall. She had gone halfway and was doing just fine.

She was just about to close her eyes and slide across in order to get out of the rain when she noticed Bitterman cutting off a few ropes below her. She watched in terror as her safety net fluttered to the ground.

She dared a peek downward and gasped when she realized that she could be seriously injured if she fell. Maybe even fatally wounded.

"Do you wanna pass or not? Get moving."

Keats inched her way along twice as slow as she had done before. She had known all along that Berkeley was behind everything and that indeed everyone _had_ been against her from the start, but having it confirmed was rather painful.

Keats felt her foot slide out from under her and she grabbed the pole for support. She was kneeling on it, clutching it with all her strength. _I'm going to be fine. He's just trying to scare me._

She made herself do a few breathing exercises in an effort to calm down, barely noticing when Bitterman took an enormous branch from a nearby tree and began striking the foundation under the pole, causing her to shake.

Jake Berkeley stood and was ready to bolt out the door when Ryan Wolfe suddenly breezed through it, giving him a tight smile.

"CSI Wolfe, I am more than ready to sign that agreement." Erickson said. Jake looked back and forth between the two men, completely mystified.

"Agreement? _We_ had an agreement, Seville. What agreement could you possibly have with _him_?" Berkeley yelled.

"It's every man for himself, Jake. If I turn you in, as well as a few others in the barrel, I get a reduced sentence…but wait, it gets better. I agree to let Keats off the hook in exchange for my _complete_ exoneration. It's all here in black and white, Detective."

"You mean I'm taking the fall for everything? You're insane, old man!" Berkeley began to panic, fear rising in his throat.

"It certainly looks like you'll be paying for everything, now doesn't it?" Erickson said, signing a few documents near his bedside and handing them to Ryan.

Ryan folded the papers and put them in his jacket pocket. He thanked Erickson profusely, excusing himself from their company.

It was late. It was raining. And it was also a good night to rescue a damsel from Officer Training Camp.


	56. Rescue Ranger Remington

Keats began to feel faint. It didn't come as a surprise to her, because they'd neglected to let her go at meal times and she was overworking herself physically. But it was damn annoying, especially when it meant that a horrid demise was almost certain.

She tried to keep still, holding her balance in the perfect spot. And yet she needed to move around to shake off her dizziness and nausea.

She saw herself slipping in slow motion, and it seemed that her body's reflexes were working that much slower against her. She managed to grab hold of the pole in time to dangle up above Bitterman.

He grinned at her, briefly pausing from his tirade. When he decided that she was as good as gone anyway, he backed up a few paces and stood in the rainy night to watch her die.

Keats was losing leverage fast. The pole was far too slick to get any kind of grip, so she tried looping her legs around the pole. She realized she hadn't the strength.

Every part of her was aching. Her arms were screaming at her to let go, but like some sort of unconscious instinct of survival, she stayed attached to the pole.

_How long can I stay like this? Maybe I can shimmy to the other side…_

Keats had discovered that while she was indeed lucky that she clung to the pole with success, she also discovered that because of this, she couldn't go anywhere else.

She began to swing herself, hoping she'd get close enough to get herself back on the pole.

_I can do this. I'm not some helpless princess locked in a tower. This is the millennium…a girl's gotta stick up for herself._

She conserved her strength for a final push, and she was overjoyed when she latched onto the pole. She then scooted across it as fast as she could, using the heels of her sneakers for a tighter grasp.

She made it to the ladder on the other side and climbed down gingerly, her muscles quite sore from the adventure.

When she reached the grassy ground, she went on bended knee and kissed it, spitting out wet pieces of clover. Her bliss was cut short when she heard Bitterman cock his gun.

"I have strict orders to waste you." He said.

"That won't be necessary, Captain Bitterman." Horatio Caine said as he gave the signal for a dozen officers to surround him.

Keats nearly passed out with relief. She felt someone pick her up and carry her, but she was too exhausted to wonder who it was or where they were taking her.

Keats Juniper Remington woke up in a warm, dry bed feeling very cozy and comfortable. She sat up and wondered how she got into Ryan's apartment when she thought she should have been back at camp.

"Glad you're awake, Keats…you should eat something." Ryan said, entering the bedroom. _Ryan_. She felt such a surge of happiness that she jumped into his arms, causing them both to fall backward.

"I'm glad you're excited about eating. Were they starving you?" He asked with a grin. Keats nestled under his chin and hugged him close, taking in his scent, his warmth, his presence.

"I love you." She whispered. Such words that were said too often by too many people who didn't mean them… But this time they were said with such vulnerable intensity that no one could have mistaken her true feelings.

"Keats…I have good news." Ryan said, holding her at arm's length so that he could see her face.

"I could sure use some right about now." Keats laughed.

"H is gonna give us another chance. To work together…And, Erickson is not going to press charges on you. He's pressing charges on Berkeley."

"Really?!" Keats squealed. She squeezed Ryan tightly. Maybe a little too tight.

"Oh, sorry." She said, laughing.

Horatio was helping Detective Tripp file the paperwork for the tainted cops that worked at Miami Dade.

They had known that something was amiss, but finally things were beginning to level off.

"They make a great team, don't they?" Horatio commented. He had intended for them to work together from the very beginning. Remington wasn't the only one who had hunches.

"Definitely. But there's still a great amount of risk involved if we let them-"

"Risk is the name of the game, Frank," Horatio interjected, "Everything we do has an element of risk. I say we let them make their own choices. Including whether or not they want to be in a relationship. As long as they keep things professional, I see no real problem with it, Frank." He had been defending both Ryan and Keats for a few months and now he was passing the torch to them.

If they truly wanted to make it work, they had to fight their own battles.

Keats was having a hard time keeping herself occupied all alone in Ryan's apartment. She wasn't allowed to return to the Lab until after Graduation, which was a whole week away.

Assuming she passed her 'training', she was all ready to walk down the line and receive her sheepskin, so-to-speak. But the waiting in the meantime was killing her.

She knew if she wasn't busy she'd think about Patty, or wedding worries, or the fact that Sloane and her new husband were MIA. They'd been due back from their honeymoon five days ago.

_Ryan and I are really getting married…wow. I never really let in sink in. I'll be Mrs. Ryan Wolfe. Keats Wolfe…erm, that sounds okay. I'm getting married…for real, this time._

She heard her cell phone buzz angrily and she picked it up in a hurry.

"How come you're not at your apartment?" Glenn asked her. His voice was fierce and probing. Glenn, her eldest (not to mention most overprotective) brother, calling her in the middle of the day. Uh, oh.

"Hee…funny story. I live with this guy…we're like roommates…and stuff…" Keats knew she was misleading Glenn, making Ryan sound like he was gay.

"You're living with a guy? I'll rip you a new one later, Kit…This is about Sloane."

"What happened? Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She just got back this morning. The only thing is, her husband isn't with her…"

"What the hell happened?" Keats asked.

"No idea. All I know is that he went missing and Sloane spent the last week trying to find him."

"She went traipsing all over Agious Georgios this past week? What a Grecian catastrophe!" Keats exclaimed.

"If he isn't dead or dying, I may kill him myself." Glenn said. Keats rolled her eyes.

"Why do you always have to talk like Clint Eastwood?" She muttered.

Keats waited patiently for her brothers and sister to arrive, since she didn't have to clean up. They were all in Miami for different reasons, but the most pressing of which was Sloane's missing spouse.

They came into the apartment with guarded tongues, looking around with interest. Glenn, scouting out any items that could be considered 'homosexual', Miles, glancing at all the academic textbooks in the bookshelf, Harvey, digging around for potato chips, and Sloane, browsing the bed and bathrooms for signs of sexual activity.

The Remingtons were an interesting breed.


	57. Siblings and Strangers

"When was the last time you saw him?" Keats asked. Sloane made a face and shrugged.

"You're kidding…you ho…" Keats said, knowing she wasn't kidding.

"Sloane called me last week and told me that Roddy hadn't been back to the hotel in several hours. But when he came back, he said he'd been gambling." Glenn said. Sloane nodded, apparently too lazy to tell her side of the story.

"Sounds like he was picked up by Cretin loan sharks or something. Heh…um…yeah." Keats ran her fingers through her strawberry-blond hair and sighed. The constant Miami sunshine had made her hair lighter than her usual strawberry red.

"Funny. Anywho, he said he was going out for a smoke and I never saw him again. I reported him missing and there's a search party and everything, but no one's made any progress." Sloane said.

"I just want to know why you married the guy after only knowing him for four days." Miles said with a sardonic laugh.

"Well, the wedding was already paid for, and Esteban was going to jail, so…" Harvey said in a falsetto voice, mimicking Sloane. Sloane laughed hard.

Despite the horrific undertones of the situation, something about it was ironic and somewhat amusing.

"Will you guys shut up?" Glenn yelled. Everyone stopped laughing and sighed, giving their full attention to Big Brother Glenn.

"We're already doing everything we can, Glenn. What else do you want?" Sloane asked him. Glenn pointed at Keats.

"She's the cop. Ask her to do whatever it is that she does to find a runaway suspect." Glenn said. Keats folded her arms across her chest.

"Not technically. But give me another good week and I'm your gal!" She mocked. Glenn was treading in dangerous territory.

"Tell your police friends that Roddy stole some of Sloane's jewelry and disappeared. Surely they'd look for him then, right?" Glenn continued. Keats rolled her eyes.

"You want me to lie to my peers? When this is all figured out, I'll have to live with the fact that I betrayed their trust…I can't do that." Keats murmured.

"She's right, Glenn. Plus, if the cops found out that he hadn't stolen anything they'd stick you in jail for perjury…What? I watch A&E, okay?" Sloane shrugged again.

"Okay, here's the plan: I tell people down here that I'm taking a senior vacation or something before I graduate, when in reality I'll be in Agios Giorgios looking for Sloane's husband. I think I can figure out where he might be.

If anyone else wants to come with, they're more than welcome. But don't hinder me whatever you guys decide to do. I've made up my mind to solve this." Keats said, already taking out a suitcase.

"You can _have_ Greece. I got more than enough of it last week." Sloane said with a sigh.

"I don't know…Greece…it sounds so…greasy…" Harvey said, wiping potato chip debris from his hands.

"Actually, a trip to Greece would be great for you two Neanderthals. Heaven forbid you should be exposed to some culture…" Miles added, talking to his brothers with a hint of disdain.

"I'm not letting you go alone, Keats." Glenn said at length.

"I'm not letting you go at all."

Keats turned to find Ryan standing in the doorway. She wondered how long he had been there and mentally chastised herself for not taking her siblings back to her own apartment, which was in escrow at the moment.

"Hi, Ryan." Sloane said unenthusiastically from the couch. Ryan nodded toward her in salutation.

"Hey, you must be that guy Kit is living with…" Harvey said. Miles rolled his eyes.

"I'm Ryan Wolfe, nice to meet you. And you must be Keats' brother…"

"Harvey. I'm the stupid one…or so they tell me a lot." Harvey grinned.

"I'm Miles. The only non-idiot in the family." Miles said.

"Hey!!!" Keats and Sloane shouted in unison.

"I'm Glenn Remington. Keats mentioned she was living with you. She told me you were just her roommate…" Glenn gave Ryan the once-over. His attire may have been questionable, but his mannerisms and overall demeanor were quite masculine.

"So…do you ever bring dates home?" Miles asked, taking his cues from Harvey. Ryan seemed rather confused by the question.

"No. I don't." He said. He glanced at Keats as though it would help him understand what was going on.

"I've got a question for you, Ryan, if you don't mind my asking…what business is it of yours whether Keats goes to Greece or not?" Glenn asked. He was getting down to brass tacks, that much was certain.

Keats made sure no one was looking in her direction, and then proceeded to send Ryan hand signals telling him not to spill the beans about the engagement.

"She's my friend." Ryan said after a time. Keats could tell it pained him to lie about their relationship.

"All the same, if she wants to go, no one should stop her." Glenn replied.

"Keats, can I talk to you for a second?" Ryan asked. He led her into the bedroom they shared and closed the door behind them.

"What's going on? I leave you in bed thinking you're going to watch Oprah, I come back and you're on a crusade to some obscure island in the Mediterranean."

"My sister's husband is missing. Either he's died some horrible death at the hands of a few restless natives, or he's deliberately gone and left her. None of them are very reassuring." Keats sighed, sitting at the edge of the bed.

"Look, I know you're bored and you miss work. But just because an opportunity presents itself doesn't mean you have to take it…" Ryan stood in front of her, gazing down at her.

"For some reason, you just can't stay in one place for too long. Why is that?" Ryan asked, coming to sit down beside her on the bed.

"I don't know…I feel an intense sort of…eh…I guess I have a superhero complex, or something." Keats mumbled, falling back onto the bed.

Ryan placed himself beside her, propping himself up by the elbow.

"That explains why you want to go to Greece…how about why you don't want your family to know we're getting married?" He asked.

"Because I know what they would say…and you shouldn't have to deal with that." Keats explained rather wistfully. After all, she'd gone through something similar not quite two years ago.

"What would they say?" Ryan wondered. He enjoyed spending time with Keats like this. He loved hearing her talk about things and thought the sound of her voice was very soothing.

"First they'd be mad that they didn't meet you before. They always have to approve the guys I date. And then they would tell me it's too soon for us to get married because we haven't known each other very long.

They would kill me for dating a guy I work with anyway, especially one who's sort of my boss…and to top it off they would tell me I'm too young for you. They'd try to pin you as some sort of pedophile.

I love them but they drive me crazy. They can't understand me. They never have, and they never will." Keats nibbled on her lip, trying to make it seem like she wasn't biting it.

"My brother, Malcolm…he's the same way. He never lets me think for myself…Miami was sort of an escape, at first. I couldn't be _there_ and do my own thing at the same time, so…" And there it was. Another glimpse into Ryan Wolfe's past.

Keats adored learning new things about Ryan. She only wished he could open up more. But she knew how hard it must be for him.

"Malcolm…what does he do?" Keats asked. Ryan gave her one of his ironic smiles.

"He's a lab rat back in Boston…I was all set to be his partner in the company he created. But I wanted more, you know…more than just filling out grant proposals and publishing papers and testing certain hypotheses…"

"You were doing something you loved and even then, an element was missing." Keats said, understanding the feeling.

"Exactly. Keats, how is it that you know me better than anyone else even when you don't even know my dad's name, or where I went to high school, or my favorite song on the radio?"

"I understand you as a person, which has nothing to do with your history or personal preferences. I _love_ you as a person, which is why even when people say that we're not right for each other, I'll know they're wrong." Keats smiled, her face all lit up and dazzling.

Ryan took her in, they way she spoke, her smile, her touch. He knew he'd never be able to get enough of her, even when they were ninety and helping each other look for their dentures.

He moved on top of her and began kissing her with gratitude, reverence, with need and anticipation. Keats ended the kiss after awhile and sat up, touching her flaming cheeks.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to tell the relatives that I'm getting hitched." She said, exiting the room with a flourish.


	58. Something Old, Something New

"You guys…Ryan isn't just my roommate. He's the love of my life." Keats said, lowering her voice conveniently towards the end.

"I knew it. You didn't have to lie, Kit." Glenn told her.

"I could tell way back when you guys were at the airport…there was serious chemistry. The sparks were freakin' hot." Sloane giggled.

"I'm glad you guys are taking this so well. But I'm afraid there's more…Ryan and are getting married."

Sloane blinked, shaking her head. Glenn held his hand over his jaw in disbelief. Harvey was licking his fingers, ridding them of cheesy poof powder. Miles was watching everyone else's reaction around him, getting a good laugh in the process.

"If you don't approve…I'm sorry. But I'm going to marry him anyway." Keats tried to break through the heavy silence.

"This little incident with Sloane, doesn't it mean anything to you?" Glenn fired at her, increasing the uncomfortable tension in the room.

"Ryan would never do that." Keats said without hesitating.

"How do you know that for sure?" Miles asked, for once being serious.

"I guess I _don't_ know. But I trust him. I believe in him."

"Nice words for a fairytale, Kit." Sloane said, her concern rising. She had said much the same thing when Morgan Flannery proposed to her and they were against it.

She had wandered off into a dream world, getting lured away from reality by Morgan's fresh promises and sweet flattery. And a few months later he broke it off.

He ended the entire relationship without fanfare or explanation.

Keats had been devastated. Her whole world had come to a screeching halt.

There were many recent nights that Sloane had worried whether Keats would get over him or not. Perhaps this was worse.

"Morgan has nothing to do with this. When I loved him I was a little younger. I was stupid. I'm still stupid, but I've learned a thing or two since. Do you think I would deliberately put myself out there again if it wasn't for some spectacular guy?" Keats said.

Her siblings were very quiet. Keats was speaking from deep down inside her heart. Her innate wisdom was shining through her words. Keats wasn't a little baby any more cutting her teeth on the teddy bear of love.

She'd paid her dues in experience. She was a grown-up woman now. And it showed.

"When's the wedding?" Harvey asked.

"What about Greece?" Sloane and Glenn wondered.

Ryan emerged from the bedroom, standing behind Keats.

"I can help you, there. I'll send out a search warrant for your husband." Ryan told Sloane.

"How's it hanging, future bro?" Miles asked. He tried to show him the secret handshake.

Keats only hoped that her parents would be as easily swayed.

"Hey, Ryan…buddy…got any more snacks?" Harvey asked from the kitchen. He had gone through several bags of confections already.

"Does that mean I don't have to go to Greece…or does that mean you're going to let me go…?" Keats mumbled in Ryan's ear, giving him her best persuasive glance.

"As interesting as that would prove to be, I can't let you go. You get in tons of trouble here as it is." He told her. He looped his arm around her waist, making her forget about Greece temporarily.

"If you still want to go in a couple of months, I'll take you there myself." He added. _A honeymoon in Greece with Ryan…not too shabby, I must say._

Keats, Ryan, Miles, Harvey, Glenn, and Sloane sat at the dining room table talking and drinking coffee until the wee hours of the morning.

They talked about everything under the sun, and yet nothing at all. Some things were important, other things philosophical, while other things that came up made no sense whatsoever. Late night talks were usually like this. At least with the Remington brood.

"…mmm, Sloane? How did you know that Roddy was the one for you?" Keats asked, getting drowsier by the second.

"When he offered to pay for her room." Miles said. Howls of laughter erupted from the table and even Sloane had to laugh, even though she was the butt of the joke. In fact, she had been the rear end of many jokes that evening.

"Actually, he comforted me in the bar when I was upset. We had one of those long talks where we learned new things about each other, making a connection based on common miseries. He cheered me up about Esteban being imprisoned and everything.

I don't know, but I think I'd noticed him before, but not like that. At least, not until after Esteban was in jail…You'd have thought that would have turned out better…oh well."

Keats giggled in spite of herself. Sloane _never_ picked the right guy. It was like a genetic impossibility.

"When are you guys going to tie the knot?" Glenn asked. It was a rather monumental question, seeing as Glenn was the one asking.

Keats and Ryan paused to look at each other, shrugging and smiling their happy smiles.

"Soon, I hope." Keats said. Ryan took hold of her hand under the table and laced her fingers with his own.

"Might I recommend a summer wedding, maybe closer to late summer… Tourist season is such a bitch, you know." Sloane said, probably quoting from _Modern Bride_.

"What happens when we find Roddy?" Harvey said with his mouth full of cookies. The question caught everyone by surprise, but they continued on as though it wasn't a big deal.

"If the situation was out of his control, I'd forgive him and shower him with kisses…But if he left on purpose, I'd string him up by his Buster Brown's and exact my vengeance upon him until he begged for mercy. He would welcome the relief that death would bring…" Sloane said, grabbing a packet of ketchup and squeezing it juiceless.

"Jeez, Sloane…did ya say that on your wedding night?" Miles asked. The laughter kept coming.

"Oh, Miles, don't be such a jackass." Keats said with a grin.

"My advice, Sloane, is to count your losses and move on…" Ryan said after the chuckles had died down. Sloane nodded sadly. She glanced at Keats tenderly, thinking her very lucky to have a guy like Ryan on her side.

"How can I move on? I quit my job to be with Esteban, then Rod…"

"Get a job here, Sloane. Live nearby. I'm sure they have plenty of teaching positions in Miami." Keats told her. She began to imagine how much fun it would be for her sister to live locally. They'd get to hang out more, maybe even get the chance to strengthen their bond.

They'd grown apart since college. Sloane had been teaching for just one year and she was happy in Sarasota, calling Keats every once in awhile for an update. But this…it would be wonderful if things could work out.

"We can figure out the details later, but…I'll stay here for the time being."

Keats hugged her, overjoyed beyond belief.

Sloane ended up staying with her brothers at Big Daddy Hasting's summer house overlooking the beach. Selvia had persuaded their step-father to lend them use of his vacation home.

Keats said her goodbyes and she turned to Ryan, wrapping her arms around him thankfully.

"Keats, I have the day off tomorrow. Do you want to go shopping?" He asked. Keats gave him a funny look, but she nodded curiously.

"Shopping?" She wondered. Ryan refused to tell her anything more until the following day.

She walked into a store with her eyes closed, having no idea whatsoever which store it was. But she was having fun, regardless. The aura of mystery was deliciously appealing.

Ryan had led her to a specific spot and stopped her, telling her to open her eyes and look around. She obeyed with a smile on her face.

"Oh, Ryan…" She gasped. They were in a bridal boutique with dozens of mirrors surrounding them. She glanced around at a few dresses, feeling an intense swell of love for Ryan Wolfe.

She picked out a beautiful gown, stepping into a dressing room to try it on. She fiddled around with the zipper disconcertingly. _Should I diet or something before the wedding? Nah…_

She emerged from the dressing room shyly, keeping her eyes on her feet. Ryan was looking at her with a stunned expression on his face.

"Keats…God, you're beautiful." He said. Keats blushed in response.

"I've been missing for over a week and already you're taking the plunge with another guy?"

Keats and Ryan turned around quickly, coming face to face with Sloane's husband, Roderick Andrews.

"Roddy?" She asked, bewildered by the fact that he seemed alive and perfectly healthy…and in a Miami bridal shop.

"You cheating whore!" He shouted. Ryan stomped up to Roddy, his jaw hardened.

"Hey…don't talk to her like that." He said sharply. Keats' hair was lighter, which must have prompted Roddy to mistake her for Sloane.

"Where have you been?" Keats asked incredulously.

"I don't know…back to my condo, maybe! I get really tired of seeing you with other guys, Sloane. I don't care how innocent it looks." Rod snapped.

"I'm not Sloane. But I can give you her number. You should take this up with her personally." Keats said. Rod gazed at her skeptically.

"You expect me to believe that? I've seen your sister, Sloane. She's a psychotic bitch."

"If you keep saying stuff like that, pal, you're going to regret it." Ryan barked.

"Oh, sorry for offending you. I didn't realize you were her new boytoy! Let me give you some advice, dude. Leave her now. She's got more mileage on her than a public schoolbus. I'm not even sure the baby's mine."

"What?" Keats shrieked.


	59. Daytripper

"He's _lying_. I'm not pregnant. I wouldn't be dumb enough to skip precautions…" Sloane said over the phone. _Ouch_. _You weren't this judgmental when _I_ did it._

"So you didn't cheat on him." Keats put in. Sloane laughed.

"I didn't say _that_."

"Sloane Garcia, are you telling me you're having an affair?" Keats' head was in a whirl. She missed work terribly. She'd much rather deal with other people's drama than her own.

"Not exactly. Rod pissed me off so I went to a club without him…sure I flirted and stuff, but I didn't commit adultery."

"Why would he say that you were pregnant?" Keats wondered.

"I sort of lied and told him I'd try to…you know…get pregnant."

"Remember when I asked you to move to Miami? Heh, forget it."

"Keats, you have to help me."

_Do I have a choice? In just one short week I'll be graduating…and I have a birthday coming up tomorrow. But I have to spend it fixing Sloane's love life?_

"I know it's your birthday, dumbass. Which is why we have to nip this problem in the bud."

"Do you want to get back together with him or divorce him?" Keats asked.

"That's the problem. I don't know."

"You better figure it out."

Sloane sent Keats back and forth between them, delivering and receiving messages. By the time she stopped for lunch, she received a text message telling her they had made up. She collapsed on the sofa and wondered what Sloane would have done without her.

Despite Sloane's partial infidelity and Rod's habit of running away (from continent to continent), they were a match made in Heaven…sort of.

Keats woke up in the morning feeling rather bad. She wanted to process a crime scene…anything…she wanted to go to the Crime Lab by any means.

Her birthday was beginning to suck already.

"What's the matter, birthday girl?" Ryan asked her, pulling at her lower lip.

"Please take me to work with you!" She begged.

"I can't. A few people already have plans for you today…Oh, I almost forgot." Ryan got off the bed and rummaged around in a few drawers, producing a tiny box.

He took a beautiful diamond ring from the box and slipped it on Keats' finger meaningfully. Keats kissed him slowly, wishing that they could spend the day in bed together. Or at the very least process a crime scene together.

Ryan broke away reluctantly, putting on his suit jacket.

"They said they'd be over around noon to get you. They told you to be ready."

"Who? Who are _they_?" Keats wondered.

"That's the surprise. And when you get back tonight, we can pick up where we left off this morning." Ryan planted a heart-thumping kiss on her lips and Keats sat back with a confused yet satisfied smile on her face.

Keats was dressed by eleven thirty, but she kept looking out the windows for any sign of her mystery squad coming to take her away. She leaned out the window and craned her neck around to see the parking deck.

The doorbell rang behind her, scaring her out of her mind. She slipped and nearly fell out the window, banging her foot against the window of the apartment below her.

"K.J.! If we knew you were going to skip out on us, we would've come sooner." Keats heard Natalia's voice as well as Valera's.

Natalia grabbed onto Keats' hands and the two lab technicians helped the poor little intern back inside the apartment.

"We're already getting into trouble and we haven't even left Ryan's yet." Valera said with a grin.

Keats was the told to pack for a day trip. Universal Studios was mentioned and Keats could hardly contain her excitement.

"A road trip with the clairvoyant klutz and the galloping gossip…oh, boy." Natalia said, pretending she was in for a horrible time. The amused look on her face proved otherwise.

They loaded into Natalia's car and took off; Natalia driving, Keats riding shotgun, and Valera stretching out in the backseat.

"We really miss you at the Lab, Keats." Valera said. Natalia nodded, agreeing with her.

"You solve them so quickly, Keats. You're like the Speedy Gonzales of criminalists." Natalia added. Keats smiled gratefully.

"I know of at least one person who hasn't been the same since you've been gone." Valera said coyly. Keats smiled, thinking Ryan was the sweetest man she'd ever known.

"Dan Cooper."

Keats jaw dropped and she glanced at Natalia for confirmation. Natalia seemed just as shocked as she was.

"God, I did it again! I could have sworn he told you already." Valera reprimanded herself brutally for her breach of confidence.

"Told me what?" Keats wondered. Valera held her hand over her mouth and shook her head.

"Spit it out, Maxine." Natalia said. Valera sighed.

"I think Cooper is in love with you." She blurted out after much hesitation.

"What is this? High school? You're such a bad gossip, Valera." Natalia laughed.

"I'm serious. And the only reason I'm telling you is because I think he needs to know that you're marrying Wolfe."

"In love with me? When? How? Why?" Keats was reeling from the news. In all truth she was surprised that Ryan was in love with her. She had often wondered whether she was capable of being loved by anyone.

"Let's just say it's been awhile." Valera mumbled. Keats began to think back on all the conversations she'd had with Cooper over the past several months. Suddenly everything she'd ever remembered him saying had a certain nuance to it that changed its meaning entirely.

"Valera, if Cooper hasn't told her yet, then she isn't responsible for telling him about the wedding. Unless she wants to tell him." Natalia said.

"I guess. He told me he was planning to come clean to you about it before your birthday."

"Speaking of coming clean, did Sloane's husband ever explain what he was doing during the week he was missing?" Natalia asked.

"He was extremely angry with her, so he left the honeymoon early and worked at his hotel for the week." Keats answered, her mind far away.

"It's a shame she wasn't pregnant, though. Didn't Rod really want a baby?" Valera wondered.

"Yeah. Which is why I don't think their marriage will last. Sloane hates kids." Keats replied.

"Do you plan on having kids any time soon?" Natalia joked.

"Lord, no! I think children are okay and all, but I would make a shitty mother." Keats said. Natalia and Valera shook their heads.

"You'll make a great mom someday, K.J." They both said.

"I wonder what kind of dad Ryan would make…" Keats thought out loud.

She could picture Ryan in her mind tucking a little boy into bed, reading him a story and kissing him goodnight. She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling spread across her stomach at the thought.

She shook it off and rejoined the conversation.


	60. Rueda de Casino

"Eric may have rhythm, but I don't think he'd be a good salsa dancer." Natalia said, swirling across the dance floor with a guy named Benicio. They had stopped for lunch at a Spanish restaurant and were taking advantage of the live band in the middle of the day.

"Ryan would probably step all over my feet." Keats giggled as she was dipped backward by Luis, Benicio's second cousin.

Valera swayed close beside them, spinning around with Benicio's brother, Tejano. Benicio was an assistant manager of the restaurant and insisted they dance and enjoy themselves.

"I have a confession to make, K.J." Natalia murmured as they sat down at the bar, ordering Keats a humongous Raspberry-Lime Daiquiri.

"Go ahead." Keats said, glancing at Valera in case she knew what it was about.

"When I first met you…I was afraid that you were going to take Eric away from me. I was insanely jealous and I didn't give you a chance. I apologize for that." She said, sipping her Margarita.

Valera didn't like alcohol much so she volunteered to be the designated driver, happily satisfied with a virgin Pina Colada.

"I understand. There were a couple of times when I thought he was with the two of you. I heard he really liked you, Valera. And that he actually asked _you_ on a date, Natalia. Plus, there were those rumors about Erica Sykes." Keats took a gulp from her daiquiri and coughed. It was quite strong.

"We've flirted a few times, but who hasn't flirted with Ryan?" Valera said jokingly.

"I only went out with him to get back at Eric. I had to find out through Ryan that we were broken up. I was so angry at Eric for that." Natalia fumed.

"Anyway, Erica should be the least of your worries. Ryan can't stand her." Valera said.

"For that matter, neither can we." Natalia quipped.

"You should be celebrating. It's your birthday! You can drink now, you're graduating and going to become a legitimate CSI…you even helped put Berkeley on trial. He's been a thorn in our sides for over a year." Valera told her, trying to inspire some high spirits within her comrades.

Keats was so lucky to have wonderful new friends and a wonderful life, but even then, she still thought of Patty.

Patty would have sent her a stripper or something for her birthday, or made a crank birthday phone call.

She allowed herself to be sad for only a second more, and then she took another drink, raising her glass to her two friends.

"Here's to putting that son-of-a-bitch in the hot seat." Natalia said.

"Here's to the newest member of Miami Dade's Crime Lab." Valera grinned. She said this a bit loudly, drawing attention from the men they had been dancing with.

Unfortunately, none of the women noticed them eavesdropping.

"Here's to…good friends…" Keats said with a smile.

"Man…a few months ago we wouldn't have been here together." Valera said after a moment of sentimental silence.

"Definitely not. _We_ hated each other, and you thought Valera was a sanctimonious twit that dated your ex-husband." Keats told Natalia.

"I did not!" Natalia said with a laugh. It was partially true, granted, but none of that mattered anymore.

"Fine…fine." Keats waved her off cheerfully. Benicio led Natalia back on to the dance floor a short time later, and both Keats and Valera followed right behind her.

"There's something about a man that can dance." Valera murmured as Tejano held her close, moving his hips against hers to the beat of the music.

Keats danced with Luis, smiling and thinking to herself. Her thoughts consisted of wondering why she ever doubted Ryan and other similar things.

Erica Sykes was someone she'd never even met and someone Ryan had _never_ spoken of.

_What? Me worry?_

"You and your friends are very pretty." Luis whispered in her ear.

"Thanks. Must be all the sunshine." She replied. She winced when Luis tightened his arm around her waist.

"You should come up to my room." He said. With that, he yanked her away from the crowd of people and pushed her through a door near the back of the restaurant.

"You work at Miami Dade. Under Horatio Caine, correct?" He asked her, pushing her into a back room. He made her sit on a steel chair facing him.

"What does it matter?" She asked, frightened at the prospect of being all alone in a back room with a man she didn't know.

"Have you ever heard of a man by the name of Clavo Cruz?" He asked, scratching his five o'clock shadow. Keats shook her head, not comprehending the danger she was in.

Natalia broke away from Benicio, racing after Keats as fast as she could manage. She felt Benicio shove her through the back room door and she tumbled to the ground.

"Natalia!" Keats cried. Tejano was the last person to show up, dragging Valera along with him. He closed and locked the door, turning to Benicio.

"Is she the only one who works at Miami Dade, or do you ladies work there as well?" Benicio asked them.

"What is this about?" Natalia asked.

"Never mind." Benicio muttered, proceeding to bind them with excessive amounts of duct tape.

_What are we going to do? No one knows where we are and they won't even start looking for us until tomorrow._

"Don't worry. We won't harm you until we talk to Lt. Caine." Benicio said. Natalia did a double take.

"What does this have to do with Horatio Caine?" She asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." Benicio said. Luis and Tejano laughed as though he'd told a good joke.

The three women did not find them amusing.


	61. Three For One

Keats, Natalia, and Valera were left in the back room by themselves. They were huddled in the corner, sweating profusely from lack of oxygen. The room was like a greenhouse.

They faded in and out, drowsy and detached. Nothing they attempted by way of communication seemed to work. They were at an extreme loss, and they could only wait to hear from Benicio again.

Horatio slipped on his sunglasses as he watched Detective Tripp usher the murderer into the squad car. It had been an uphill battle to convict him, but the satisfaction was enough to justify the means.

His cell rang impatiently and he reached to answer it.

"Lt. Caine, Miami Dade Police." He said. There was silence at the other end for a moment.

"Nice to hear from you, Caine. I always thought you were all right. For a cop."

"Benicio Guzman. What can I do for you today?" Horatio asked with a slight edge to his voice.

"Oh, plenty. I'd like to cut a deal with you, Caine." Benicio said sharply. Horatio motioned for Det. Tripp to trace the call on his cell using their wireless scanner.

"I'm listening, Mr. Guzman." Horatio said. Tripp typed in the code and the scanner immediately connected to Horatio's cell phone. The machine linked itself to Guzman's number and began tracing it across the state of Florida.

"I want to meet with you face to face, Caine. I want just five minutes alone with you to give you a piece of my mind…" He began, his tone harsh.

"Come down to the station and I'll make time for you." Horatio said in a soothing, semi-condescending way.

"I want you down here, Caine. Alone. As in, nobody comes with you. I want you unarmed, Caine…otherwise you're going to be without a few members of your prestigious team."

Horatio stood frozen in his tracks. Natalia Boa Vista and Maxine Valera had asked off work that very day.

"Talk to me, Guzman. What are the details of the arrangement?"

"I want to see your face tonight. There's an abandoned car dealership on Federman Ave. in Boca Raton. If you give me my five minutes, I'll release the girls."

Benicio hung up shortly thereafter, leaving Horatio with a sinister dial tone.

"Frank, I want a team on this. Now." He said.

"I won't disclose any names, Horatio. It could compromise the bias-"

"Whatever needs to be done, Frank. I've got to get them out of there."

Calleigh walked down the hall of Miami Dade, entering the ballistics lab where Delko and Wolfe were examining the shells from a recent bank robbery.

"You're going to have put that on hold. We've got another assignment." She handed them the file.

"Benicio Guzman is holding three people hostage in exchange for an unsupervised meeting between himself and Horatio." Calleigh murmured.

"Guzman…he's one of Clavo's men that slipped through the cracks during the raid." Eric said, glancing at Benicio's mugshot.

"In Boca Raton? Shouldn't the Palm Beach County P.D. take care of this?" Ryan asked, shedding his lab coat.

"I don't know. Horatio is taking this one personally for some reason. Instead of accompanying the local police in Palm Beach, he's getting several Dade County officers to back him up at the meeting place." Calleigh said, shrugging.

"Seems odd. Do you think we should ask him?" Delko wondered.

"I would, but I don't think he'd give us a straight answer." Wolfe replied.

They piled into Eric's hummer, Calleigh riding in the front seat next to him and Ryan in the backseat. They spent the few hours it took to get there talking and contemplating scenarios about Horatio's curious involvement with the case.

"What if he knows the hostages? Maybe there's something he's not telling us…what if it has to do with Yelina or something?" Eric pondered. Calleigh nodded objectively, thinking it very possible that he was right.

"Yelina isn't involved with Clavo Cruz. She was mixed up with Antonio Riaz. Different guy. You know that, Eric." Calleigh said.

"And I thought he was killed anyway." Ryan added.

"Yeah…Still, he has to have a big reason to drag us into this." Eric stated as they circled around Federman Ave. They were told to keep alert no more than a block away from the abandoned dealership.

"Benicio…here I am…you wanted time with me? You've got it." Horatio said as he moved his jacket out of the way to put his hands on his waist.

Benicio put out his cigarette and exhaled, coming closer to Horatio.

"No cops?" He asked, surveying the space around him.

"No cops. Are the hostages okay, Benicio? If they're not, you're going to pay."

"They're all right. Maybe a little roughed up, but they're alive."

"And they're going to stay alive, aren't they?" Horatio demanded.

"That depends on you." Benicio said, his face drawn and serious.

Keats was taken into a room above the first floor, bound and gagged, and eventually separated from Valera and Natalia.

_This is my fault. My stupid birthday._

Keats was lying very still when she noticed a sharp pain in her back. She began to remember her bullet wound that she'd acquired from Edward Stryker. She'd forgotten all about it and, thus, she'd forgotten to make sure it was kept clean and free from infection.

She cringed as the pain got several degrees worse every passing minute.

Luis strode through the door, noticing how much she was beginning to sweat. He had moved her to that exact room because it was cooler, but yet she was still perspiring.

He leaned down and wiped her face and neck. Tejano came in and asked him a few questions in Spanish that Keats did not understand.

"I'm no doctor, but she looks awful." Luis said to Tejano. Tejano glanced worriedly at Keats, trying to plan a suitable course of action.

"If we take her to a hospital our cover will be blown." He muttered.

"But if we don't, she could die. And we'd get the chair for killing a little white girl." Luis answered him with frantic indecision.

"Whatever we do, we'd better do it quick. Her lips are turning blue and she's breathing like a racehorse." Tejano said, hooking his arms under Keats' knees and lifting her.

"Wait a second, Tejano…we could use this to our advantage. They'll do anything we want if we tell them she needs medical attention. It increases our bargaining power." Luis gave a nod, ensuring that his idea was a good one.

"What about the others?" Tejano asked.

"I'm letting them go. We don't need them when we've got our goldmine right here."

Natalia and Valera were taken to a back alley where they were untied and left to fend for themselves. Luis had since taken off.

"Where the hell is K.J.? Why did they let us go?" Natalia asked. Valera pulled out her cell and dialed Horatio's number.

There was no answer.


	62. The Business End of a Bullet

"Try Eric's number." Natalia said. She waited breathlessly as Valera dialed Eric's cell.

"I wish I had speed dial." She murmured. Finally, Eric picked up…

Ryan, Eric, and Calleigh waited with their numerous sound devices and equipment that allowed them to listen to the exchange between Horatio and Guzman.

Guzman had gotten a phone call from a partner that released two of the hostages, explaining that they were in an alley some ten miles away.

"Why did you let two of them go?" Horatio asked.

"One of them is going into shock, Caine. She won't last long, so you'd better be able to meet my demands." Benicio said.

"Okay, guys. Let's pick up those hostages and get to work." Calleigh said, taking off down the road toward the alley.

Eric's cell rang before they'd reached their destination. He answered it, thinking it was Horatio.

"Valera? I thought you were in Orlando for the day." Eric said. As he spoke on the phone, his entire face changed, prompting Ryan and Calleigh to ask what was wrong.

Eric hung up and turned a corner, getting closer to the alley.

"The hostages were Valera, Natalia, and Keats. Keats is the one going into shock." He said, blinking quickly. Ryan rubbed his forehead and stayed very quiet.

"Did we get a location on the hideout?" He asked in a quiet, painful tone.

"They've moved her somewhere else." Delko replied, avoiding looking into Ryan's eyes.

Horatio gave Benicio a cold glare.

"What do you want, Guzman?" He asked.

"I want you on the business end of a bullet." Benicio replied.

"I'll tell you what, Guzman…turn over my CSI, and we can have an old-fashioned draw. The quickest gun gets the privilege of leaving here. Alive."

Benicio turned this thought over in his head, finally agreeing. He made a few phone calls, finalizing their arrangements.

"Wolfe! Guzman stashed her in Natalia's car outside a restaurant called 'The Spanish Fly.'" Delko shouted across the alley. Delko and Calleigh were treating Valera and Natalia for several minor lacerations, taking fingerprints and photographs.

Ryan hit the ground running, reaching Natalia's vehicle several minutes later. He bounded on the car, pulling the doors open frantically.

Keats was sprawled out in the backseat. Her skin was clammy and she was drenched in her own sweat. She looked pale and dehydrated.

Ryan clutched her tightly, as though he could warm her. He waited for the paramedics to arrive and accompanied her into the ambulance.

He stroked her forehead, closing his eyes and wishing he had seen it coming.

He rubbed his lips fervently, hoping she would be all right.

"Hang on, Keats." He whispered, holding her hand on his cheek.

A medic began to track her heartbeat, checking her pulse at regular intervals.

"We need to give her something to slow her heart down. Otherwise, she'll slip into cardiac arrest." He said. He began measuring a clear liquid, drawing it into a needle. He injected the needle into her IV.

Ryan's mind raced. He didn't want to think about what would happen to Keats if they couldn't help her in time. He couldn't even say it to himself.

He stood in the waiting room walking back and forth manically. It was cruel to have to wait. He didn't know what to do.

"Wolfe…how is she?" Eric Delko entered the waiting room along with Calleigh, Natalia, and Valera. The latter two were then taken (by Calleigh) to another wing of the hospital to be looked over thoroughly.

Delko and Ryan were left alone.

"I don't know. They haven't told me anything, yet."

"Sit down, Wolfe." Eric pulled up two chairs and they sat down next to each other. Ryan rested his elbows on his knees, keeping his head down.

"I can't lose her." Ryan muttered. Delko placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure she'll be fine-"

"How do you know," Ryan shouted, his eyes brimming, "…I'm sorry, Delko."

"It's fine. I can't imagine what you must be going through. If it had been Natalia, I don't know if I could have handled it."

A male nurse emerged from the double doors and walked over to Eric and Ryan.

"Are you the fiancée?" He asked. Ryan nodded.

"An infection from a previous wound caused internal hemorrhaging, but we managed to stop the bleeding. We gave her a few pints of blood to recover what she'd lost, and it looks likes she's going to be okay."

Ryan gave a relieved sigh.

"Can I see her?" He asked anxiously.

Keats shivered under the hospital blanket, wondering where she was. She heard Ryan's voice and felt comforted instantly.

Ryan smiled down at her, touching her face. He noted that she was getting her color back, as her lips were a rosy shade of pink. He kissed her gently.

Behind him the sun was setting, casting brilliant oranges and reds across the walls. Keats stirred, opening her eyes to all the bright colors.

"Ryan. Are they okay?" She murmured.

"They're fine. They got checked out with a clean bill of health." Ryan said, running his fingers through her hair.

"How do you feel?" He asked. She laid a hand on his arm and squeezed.

"I'm a little cold." She said. Ryan leaned over the bed and used his body heat to warm her, holding her carefully.

Horatio stood ten feet away from Benicio, his hand lingering over the gun at his side.

"Ready whenever you are." Horatio said. Benicio Guzman wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, uncertain about the entire affair.

He hadn't thought things through, and now he was at the mercy of a cop. Lt. Horatio Caine, to be exact. A man that had undoubtedly been trained for situations similar to this one. There was no way he could be beat.

He stared at Horatio for a moment longer. He took a deep breath and dropped his handgun, lifting his arms to the sky. Horatio watched Benicio, ignoring the swarm of police officers that had come onto the scene to arrest him.

For that moment, it was as if they were the only men present. They shared an unmistakable look that conveyed regret, revenge, and ultimately respect. They seemed to understand each other.

"Take him in." He said, putting on a pair of signature sunglasses.

"What the hell was that about?" Tripp asked him.

"Clavo promised him money for his part in the raid, Frank. He was never compensated."

The men walked into the shadows at a slow, even pace.

Ryan stepped outside the hospital room, closing the door gently behind him. Keats was asleep, spending the remainder of her birthday healing from severe blood loss. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"Ryan Wolfe. Long time no see. It feels like it's been forever."

Ryan turned around and faced the irrepressible, ambitious blond.

"Erica. What brings you to Boca Raton?" He asked, less than thrilled to see her.

"The continuation of the Clavo Cruz story…this is huge, Ryan. Even from the grave he manages to exact revenge. And despite his best efforts, his victims somehow survived." She said with interest.

"Erica, this isn't the time to do a story. Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He said, his voice low. Erica brushed a strand of hair from her face and gave an indignant frown.

"I have every right to be here." She said.

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?" Ryan asked. Erica gave him a flirtatious smile.

"If you have to ask, you're dumber than you look." She said in a husky tone.


	63. Macado's and Metaphysics

Keats could hear voices outside her door and nearly jumped in shock when she heard the name 'Erica' mentioned. _The_ Erica Sykes…as in, possible competition?

_Don't be stupid, Keats. He loves you, not her, right?_

She crept out of the bed and kneeled beside the door, holding her ear against it to listen.

"Remember that great night we spent at Macado's? I had no idea you were like that…" Erica kept her voice soft and sensual.

Keats eyes widened. Erica Sykes was hitting on Ryan. _Obviously, they had shared something. A night at Macado's…Is that a hotel???_

_He slept with her??? _

She heard the voices growing dimmer and dimmer, figuring that they were walking down the hall. She crawled back into bed, feeling rather lonely and sad.

_Ryan wouldn't cheat on me. He's too good for that._

A tear slipped out of the corner of her eye. She turned to her side and tried to sleep, knowing it would be difficult.

"Oh, God, can you believe that?" Natalia murmured, pulling aside the gossamer shades of the hotel window. Valera was lying in the bed untying her sneakers, which didn't see much walking at Universal Studios.

"What's the matter? Did the air conditioner break?" Valera asked.

"No. Erica Sykes and her news team have camped out in the room across from us. She smells a story, all right." Natalia said with digust. She let go of the curtain and shook her head.

"Hold on a second. Did Ryan just go into the room with her?" She muttered, pulling the curtain back again.

"Don't get involved, Natalia."

"That is so ironic coming from you…fine." Natalia slipped under the covers and switched off the light. After all, it was none of her business.

Keats woke up, but stayed in bed rather compliantly. She hadn't slept at all.

"Miss Remington. I'm happy to see you're recovering." Horatio was standing in the corner of the hospital room with his arms crossed, a light smile on his face.

"I'm all right. Nothing a few days of R&R can't take of." She said with a tiny laugh.

"If you don't mind, June, I'll wait with you until you're released and then escort you back."

"Ryan?"

"He went back with Calleigh and Eric. You don't mind my taking you instead of him, do you?" Horatio wondered. Keats shook her head.

The roads were long and narrow, lined with palm trees and grassy ditches. Keats stayed silent in the front seat, every once in awhile glancing at Horatio.

"She won't bother you, June. I've made it clear to WFOR and Ms. Sykes that they are not to question you about the Guzmans." He said, his eyes never leaving the road.

Keats nodded, thankful for his protectiveness and discretion.

"You know, June, things aren't always what they seem…that's why it's our job to find the facts before we make our move." He said, as if reading her mind.

Her first impulse was to accuse Ryan of cheating even though she knew he'd never do that to her. Even though she had no proof of his infidelity.

_I need to talk to him and ask him about her. I can't just sweep it under the rug. But until we discuss it, I shouldn't accuse him of anything._

"You're right." She said. She stared out at the passing cars and wondered what she would say if he admitted that he was still seeing Erica. _Could I deal with that???_

She sat on the couch in Ryan's apartment. She was battling a fierce urge to rummage around through his things. _No, dummy. You trust him._

She went outside and took a long walk, trying to internalize everything. She decided that she was scared. Of everything…graduating, getting married, working as a CSI…it was all so overwhelming.

There were times when she wished she wouldn't have to grow up. Growing up meant getting older, facing responsibilities, standing on her own two feet…

_How can I stand on my own two feet with Ryan in the picture?_

She placed her hand on a warm tree, circling it as she thought.

Eventually, she began to climb it, reaching to the very top branch. She looked down on everything and marveled at the view. The park near Ryan's apartment was beautiful in the Spring.

So many happy faces and laughing children, yipping dogs and skateboarding teenagers, cheerful elderly couples walking hand in hand. She had never noticed it before but she felt comforted by its very existence.

It was wonderful to know that such a peaceful place existed in the world.

The wind became tangled up in her hair and she decided to set aside her problems and simply enjoy the day.

Cooper stood behind Ryan, watching him examine a few newspaper clipping for fingerprints. He felt a bit out of place, but he wanted Ryan to know that Keats had other options.

"Cooper. Is there something wrong?" Ryan asked, turning around.

"Yeah, plenty. I heard you went into Erica Sykes' hotel room last night." He said with a glare.

Ryan suppressed a laugh.

"Cooper, it wasn't like that. You don't know what you're talking about." He said.

"So you did go to Erica's hotel room." Cooper confirmed.

"Now hold on a second-"

"Listen, I love Skeeter. If you play around on her, I'm not gonna be on your side." He said bravely. He knew quite well that Ryan was stronger and in some ways, larger.

"Cooper, nothing happened. I'm not messing around." He muttered in disbelief.

"Keep it that way." He added as he left the room.

Natalia saw him leave and felt extremely agitated. She hadn't told a soul except Valera that Ryan went into Erica's hotel room. She instructed her not to get involved and yet she blabbed to Dan Cooper. She sighed heavily.

"What have we got, Alexx?" Horatio asked, glancing at the lifeless body of a middle-aged man. He had been strapped down with leather and chains, boasting a bullet in his chest.

"A guy that got a little too kinky for his own good." She murmured. She delicately examined his limbs, finding them covered with coconut oil.

"All that's missing is the whip." Det. Tripp blurted out.

"Do we know who he is?" Horatio asked.

"Um…Felix Stanford. He's the owner of a metaphysical shop several blocks down." He read from a sheet of paper.

"Metaphysical?"

"You know…faith healing, the power of crystals, occultism, philosophy, the study of nature…" Tripp explained.

"How do _you_ know so much about metaphysics?" Alexx asked him with an incredulous look. Tripp shrugged with a nervous smile.


	64. Breathless

Upon Keats' return, she was immediately confronted by Ryan. Apparently he'd been waiting for her awhile.

"Keats, where were you?" He asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." Keats replied evenly. She walked past him into the bedroom where she began to change clothes. Ryan followed her.

"We're not finished, here." He muttered, his arms crossed. Keats slipped on one of Ryan's oversize nightshirts and clambered into their bed.

"I heard you were getting a little friendly with your ex. Are we allowed to see other people, or is it a double standard?" She asked, pulling out a book to read.

Ryan seemed angered by the question. He walked back and forth furiously, running his hands through his hair. Keats glanced up at him, wearing a cool smile.

"Not you too, Keats…Yes it _is_ true that I went into Erica's hotel room the other night-"

"You went into her hotel room?" Keats' jaw dropped.

"Cooper…didn't tell you…did he…" Ryan mumbled. Keats sighed, wondering what to say. She was struggling against fact and trust.

Ryan sat on the bed beside her, taking her into his arms. She was mildly resistant.

"Can you tell me why?" She wondered, her big green eyes shining at him imploringly. Ryan sighed, letting go of her.

"Unfortunately…I can't." He said. Keats stared off into space for awhile. _C'mon, Keats…you don't have to know everything. He can have his secrets._

"That's okay…I trust you." She said, kissing him on the cheek and settling under the covers. She fell asleep instantly, physically and emotionally exhausted.

Ryan watched her sleep. He'd always known that she was an amazing woman, but tonight she had proved it. Any other girl might have stormed off, or made him sleep on the couch. He wouldn't have blamed her if she had done either of those things.

She was…amazing. More than that. There were no words to describe her.

"I love you, Keats." He whispered, laying his arm over her possessively.

"So…you walk the line, tomorrow. Excited?" Sloane asked, twirling Keats' graduation cap. Keats yawned, sharing a bowl of cereal with her twin.

"Not too much. I have to fly back to Sarasota for the graduation ceremony. Then I'm going to fly back the next day. That's way too much flying for me. I get airsick."

"At least Ryan will be there to support you, right? I'll be there, too. And while we're there, you might as well tell the rest of the folks that you're getting married." Sloane said, her mouth full of cheerios.

"Eh…we're not rushing into things…it can wait."

"Okaaaay…just saying…if they find out you're engaged from someone else, there will be no mercy for you. At all." She pitched her voice dramatically. Keats rolled her eyes.

"I'll deal. It can't be _that_ bad."

She wished she hadn't spoken so soon.

Ryan saw her to the gate, kissing her as she left. He promised to be there in time to see her receive her diploma.

'I'll be late, but I'll be there.' He had said.

She landed in Sarasota to pick up her bags and waited for her grandmother to arrive. Not only did her grandmother show up, so did her brothers, her parents, her step-parents, her step-sibs and her half-sibs.

None of them looked happy to see her.

"Juniper…you've been living with that boyfriend of yours in sin for months now. And you expect to get married without even telling us…what has happened to you since you've moved to Miami? You've become immoral…I'm disappointed in you." Her grandmother murmured.

Keats had never felt more alone in her life. She'd lost her family because of her relationship with Ryan, even though Ryan was keeping things from her.

She sighed and did her best not to cry.

She sat on her old bed for awhile, wanting to call Patty and tell her how crazy her folks were acting. But she suddenly remembered that Patty wasn't there.

It dawned on her like the very first time, leaving her cold and breathless.

Sloane popped in, closing the door behind her carefully. She bounced on the twin bed next to Keats and gave a reassuring laugh.

"Hey, at least they didn't call you a slut. Do you know how many times Grammy has cast her 'stones' at me? It's just 'cause she cares, Kit."

Keats brought her knees up to her chin and nodded.

"She said I disappointed her…that's worse than being called a slut."

"Says you."

The night was filled with tension. Keats was sweating heavily in her polyester graduation gown, constantly shifting the itchy cap. She stood in line behind several other hundred people.

She felt as if she would pass out.

When they finally called her name, she walked out in the middle of the football field, feeling the hot lights of the stadium and the flash of the cameras.

She looked frantically for Ryan, wondering if he had been detained. She thought she saw him, so she walked the line with pride, smiling happily.

She shook the hand of the dean, taking her precious diploma with utmost joy. She waved it excitedly and continued back to her seat.

Nearly twenty minutes later, the entire class was pronounced graduated. Keats threw her cap up in the air, trying to break free of her old, juvenile self.

She was on to bigger and better things, now. She was ready to tackle her responsibilities head-on.

She ran over to Ryan, shedding her graduation gown. She came up behind him and hugged him tightly.

The man turned around. She discovered that he was _not_ Ryan.

_Oh, God…he missed my graduation…No. It's not true…_

She went to her grandmother's only to pack. The cold glances she received from her family were not enough to make her want to stay the night. She grabbed her things and left with tears in her eyes.

She cancelled her flight and rented a car to drive back to Miami. Only…she wasn't sure she wanted to go back to Miami quite yet. The drive would do her good. It would clear her perceptions and strengthen her resolve.

_Ryan must have a good excuse for not being there…oh, who the hell am I kidding? He won't tell me the truth and when I told him I trusted him, he betrayed me by not showing up to my graduation._

She drove furiously into the night, her vision blurred by heavy tears. She had come upon the Blue Daisy Bridge, the bridge that she and Patty had fished from on hot summer mornings when they were young.

The same bridge that had seen Patty for the last time.

She felt reminiscent as she crossed it, barely noticing a man standing in the middle of the road, waving his arms frantically.

Keats hit the breaks and swerved suddenly, her heart stopping for the merest fraction of a second.

She collided into the side of the bridge, the front end of her car dangling precariously over the edge. She managed to crawl into the backseat and out of the rental car.

She collapsed on the ground, scared to death. She shook terribly.

"I set my trap for a little red riding hood a few months ago. And tonight, I finally catch her." D.H. Haney stood above her, his face dripping wet with perspiration. He was apparently quite pleased with himself.


	65. The Simple Truth

**A special thanks to everyone who took the time to suggest ideas and things. I've decided to do things a little differently than I thought, but I think it works out better this way. ** **Sorry it took so long to update, but I couldn't upload anything because of my server. I'm hoping the problem is more or less fixed, but at least you know I didn't abandon the project. :)**

"Mr. Sheldon, you were the last person to see Felix Standford alive, correct?" Horatio leaned over the table, shedding his sunglasses.

"Yeah, except for the guy that murdered him." Chip Sheldon mumbled nervously. Cops were not his cup of tea. Horatio gave him a meaningful stare.

"You went to his store, 'The Indigo Sky', to get a refund on an item that you claimed didn't work." Horatio said after a bit. Chip nodded.

"It was this book, uh…_Earth, Air, Fire, Water_. The spells were stupid and pointless. Plus, they didn't give me any results."

"What results were you looking for?" Horatio asked.

"Uh…just some…spells…All right, it was a money spell. The book said if I gave a thousand dollars to a charity, I'd get it back three-fold. I even followed the directions step-by-step. I did everything."

"Did Felix refuse to give you your refund?" Horatio wondered.

"Not exactly. He told me that the warranty wasn't over, yet. He asked me to take it for another week and if it still didn't work, he said he'd give me a full refund."

"How much was the book?"

"I don't know…five hundred dollars? It was one of those rare, original prints."

"Are they highly sought after?" Horatio asked. He was beginning to see the crime more clearly.

"Originals? Yeah. People kill for 'em."

"No kidding." Horatio said with a heavy frown.

Calleigh was examining the bullet and its shell casing when Horatio entered the ballistics lab. His pace suggested he was onto something.

"The customer explained to me that he was the owner of a very valuable piece of literature. If the murderer thought that Felix was in possession of the book, he was sadly mistaken. But it also means that our suspect is in danger."

Keats couldn't remember much of the accident. All she remembered was a throbbing pain in her forehead. She felt the congealed blood alongside her face and struggled to move her arms.

Her wrists had been bound by a strip of stout rope around the massive trunk of a tree.

_It gives new meaning to the term 'tree hugger'…okay, Keats…how are you going to finagle your way out of this one?_

"Believe me, Red. It hurts me to do this to you." D.H. blurted out from the tail end of his truck. He was sitting comfortably, watching her with delight. He smoked from a pipe and gave her lecherous stares.

"I'm sure." She muttered. All she had wanted was a normal life. And yet…here she was.

"You're in a very compromising position, Little Red. If I had the notion, I could do things to you that would scare the wildlife." He chuckled softly.

"If you plan to kill me, get it over with, Haney. I don't feel like being brave or crafty." She murmured. She had indeed lost the will to escape. It was not a good feeling.

There were so many questions and absolutely no answers. It was daunting…but she'd been through worse.

"I don't kill, sweets. I may have pulled a gun on your ass a while back, but that didn't mean I was going to shoot you." He tapped the ash from his pipe and leaned back.

"…so…this so-called trap…you set it after you got out of prison, trying to catch me…why here?"

"You may not have realized it, yet, but I was a guest at your sister's wedding. I talked to your grandma. I found out lots of things about you…you're an interesting girl."

"And you're a boring man."

"Why the hell aren't you afraid?" He asked in surprise, sliding off his truck. Keats shrugged apathetically.

"I have nothing left to lose." She said. It an honest answer. It really bugged him the way she said it, too.

"So what happens now?" She asked. She almost sounded bored. It annoyed him.

"…I…I don't know. I lost my business, so I made you my hobby. The thrill of the chase. The thrill of the catch."

"I guess it's safe to assume you killed my best friend, huh?" She said. The words no longer pained her. It was liberating.

"Yeah…I did." He said, regretfully. Keats gave him a forgiving glance. She was far away from revenge and retribution. His regret was enough for her.

"What will you do after this?" She asked. The man in front of her had no direction, no purpose. She rather pitied him.

"…wait for Maria to get out of prison…" He mumbled.

"Not that I'm telling you how to run your life or anything, but…you should clean yourself up and become an asset to Miami-Dade. You'd still get to see me. Of course, you'd have to serve some time for this bridge madness…but I'd visit you."

"An asset? Yeah, right. I can't help anyone."

"Are you kidding? A guy with your connections can really help us out."

"Us? You mean you're a real CSI now?" He wondered, trying not to sound too interested.

"Well, if I ever make it back to Miami." She said. Haney smiled.

"All right. I'll take you back to Miami in my truck if you can get yourself out of that rope. That way I'll know you're worth saving which in turn means I'm worth saving."

Keats gave a slight nod. She may not have known how to stay out of trouble, but she knew how to change the wheels of fate when she got in too deep.

She also knew that Haney would never agree to work for Miami-Dade, but at least she'd got him thinking again. And she was one step closer to going home.

"Are you saying that whoever murdered Felix…they did it because of the book?" Chip asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Horatio said. Chip slid the book across the table gently. Horatio glanced at it with apprehension and intrigue.

"I'll have an officer look after you." He said as he stood. Within minutes, Calleigh was ushered in to be Chip's impromptu bodyguard.

"Mr. Sheldon…due to the nature if this case, I think it would be wise if you stayed away from your house." Calleigh said, walking with him down the street. It was a bright and sunny afternoon.

"Could we grab a bite to eat? I'm starving." Chip said.

They went to a crowded burger joint, sitting down on opposite sides of a booth. Calleigh yawned and watched as Chip Sheldon ordered a gigantic burger with a Diet Pepsi.

Soon, her attention was captured by a television in the corner. WFOR News was on, and Erica Sykes was on location in Boca Raton talking about Clavo Cruz's disgruntled partners. Clips of an interview with CSI Ryan Wolfe flashed across the scene every few minutes whenever relevant.

Calleigh's eyes narrowed a bit. Erica, as usual, was far too close for comfort. But now it seemed as though Ryan Wolfe was actually tolerating her. More than that…he was helping her out!

Ryan Wolfe was driving hard. He was driving mad as well. The airports had given him a runaround what with losing his itinerary, shipping his luggage to the wrong place, cancelling his flights. Ryan Wolfe rented a car instead.

He kept an eye on the clock at all times, speeding down the highways whenever they were empty. He had lost five hours already. It would take a miracle for him to make it on time.

A miracle didn't seem to be in the cards, however. Ryan had gotten lost twice and his rental car broke down 30 miles from the college where the graduation was being held.

He slammed the hood down, glancing at his watch with frustration. The ceremony had already begun.

Ryan grabbed his things and began to walk the long and lonely road toward the college, determined to see Keats' big moment.


	66. CSI Level 1

Keats used the rope around her wrists to pull against the tree, using its strength to travel along the length of it. She climbed until her arms were sore, resting one leg over the side of a branch.

She tore at a broken piece of wood, sharpening it and rubbing it against her bindings. After a long time, she finally freed herself, descending from the tree slowly. Her muscles ached, but she gave Haney a warm smile.

She held out her hands, showing him the split rope. Haney nodded, holding open the passenger side door of his truck.

"A promise is a promise, Red. But don't expect me to be a model citizen or anything. I'm just going to do you a favor. After I drop you off in Miami…don't expect to see me again."

"What? You mean you're not mad at me anymore? I thought I ruined your life." Keats murmured, fiddling with the knobs of his air conditioner. She buckled her seat belt and waited for Haney to back out.

Haney drove off in the early morning, gazing out at the rising sun. It was dark red and seemed to bleed across the clouds, making Keats mildly uneasy.

"What good would it do to stay mad at you? You don't have any money, you're more trouble than you're worth…Hell, you ain't even my type." He said, lighting a dark cigarette.

Keats knew he was sparing her out of the kindness of his heart. She just wished she could get him to believe that.

Ryan finally arrived at the college. There were hordes of people crowded against each other, shoulder to shoulder. He was sweating profusely, weak and exhausted. He had been there for ten minutes when he was finally rewarded with a clear view of Keats receiving her diploma.

She had seen him. He waved Heaven knows how much to get her attention. She smiled at him, continuing on to shake the hands of the faculty.

It was then that he noticed his cell phone. He had received a message from Delko, wondering why Wolfe had cooperated with Erica on a rather biased newscast.

Ryan gave a gruff sigh. Erica had promised to wait a few days before airing the program.

He slipped out of the graduation ceremony, grimly determined to do a little damage control. Before he left, he glanced at Keats one more time and fixed the image in his memory.

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough back at the hotel. You were supposed to wait a few days before releasing the story. I didn't get enough time to clear it with my superiors." Ryan said, looming over Erica like a storm cloud.

Erica was oblivious to his anger, or perhaps she did not care. Teasing him seemed to amuse her.

"You know as well as I do that the story would have been cold by then. I had to strike while the iron was hot…I was just giving my audience what they wanted." She said with a justified smirk.

"I've been really cooperative about your involvement with certain cases. But since you've just proven to me that I can't trust you, consider yourself unwelcome at any crime scene from now on." Ryan stormed off, leaving the television station in a fury.

Keats said her goodbyes to Haney. It was more difficult than she thought it would be. Haney represented a time when she would have jumped through fire for Ryan. But now, she was going to have to move on and grow up a little before she could even consider marrying him.

Saying goodbye to Haney was like saying goodbye to Ryan. The very idea made her incredibly sad.

"Why the hell are you crying? I could have killed you and you're weeping like I'm your stupid boyfriend." Haney said, coughing. He put out his cigarette and shook her hand.

His hand was sooty and rough, firm and large. He lifted his hat to her and closed the door. He began to drive away slowly, as though it would hurt her less.

Keats entered the apartment she shared with Ryan and was glad he wasn't home. She wasn't anxious to tell him it was over.

She cleaned herself up and began packing her things up in boxes, calling her sister and asking if she could stay with her for awhile.

Calleigh and Chip Sheldon went through every inch of his place after discovering it to have been ransacked. It was obvious that Felix Standford's killer was after the book and was under the assumption that Chip had it.

"Did you tell anyone that you were in possession of the book?" Calleigh asked, sifting through the pile of books on the floor for prints.

"No. Not a soul. Except for Felix. He recommended the book to me." Chip mumbled, gazing around the room with a gloomy expression.

"He…_advised_ you to purchase it?" Calleigh asked. Chip nodded.

"I think he was deliberately trying to get rid of it." She murmured.

She went back to the lab and examined the book that Chip Sheldon had given them. Earth, Air, Fire, Water.

She looked through the book and found the money spell on page twenty. Curiosity caused her to browse through the rest of it as well.

Halfway through the book, Calleigh found the pages had been ripped out in order to house a tiny plastic bag of what looked to be diamonds.

The prints on the diamonds matched a few of the items used to murder Felix Standford, namely the handcuffs and leather straps. They belonged to an ex-girlfriend of his.

"So the money spell really worked???" Chip asked incredulously. Calleigh shrugged.

"In a way, I suppose it did. But unfortunately, those diamonds don't belong to you. They've been confiscated by the Miami Dade Police Department." She murmured.

Rita Burgess admitted to the murder of Felix Standford over the matter of thousands of dollars worth of diamonds, and in the end, it seemed that the diamonds, as well as the book itself, would belong to no one.

Horatio walked down the hallway of the Miami Dade Crime Lab, noticing someone waiting for him near the entrance.

Keats turned and was suddenly face to face with Lt. Caine. Her new boss.

"Are you ready for a promotion of sorts?" Horatio said with a small smile. Keats laughed softly, nodding her head in agreement.

"If you're willing to hire me." She said, her eyes lit up with excitement.

Horatio Caine held her hand, slipping something small and cold into her palm. Keats flipped it over and stared at the object with nervousness and pride.

It was her official police badge.

"Welcome to the Lab, CSI Remington."

**This part of the story ends here. Keats has finished her training and internship, so when I continue, it will be fresh and different. Hopefully more enjoyable since Keats will have more freedom as a Level 1 CSI. Again, thank you for reading and perhaps I'll see you in the continuing saga of CSI Miami. :) lol**


End file.
